


Here Comes the Sun

by ThirdGenerationRockette



Series: Holiday Weekends [1]
Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M, s1 au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-25 05:01:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13827027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirdGenerationRockette/pseuds/ThirdGenerationRockette
Summary: She had accepted the invitation instantly, no hesitation. It's Charlie, and Nancy, and it's a holiday weekend, and her instant reaction was that she'd love to spend it with them rather than alone, no doubt ending up working through most of it to avoid driving herself crazy with her own company. Now she's wondering if she did the right thing, if Will is going to spend the entire time snarling at her, making it clear that he doesn't know what Charlie was thinking and that as far as he's concerned she really isn't welcome.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, this is the last of the reposts - thank God! After this I will no longer be clogging up your dashboards...
> 
> This series is a big old beast though so may take a little while to post.
> 
> Goes AU in summer 2011, after Brian has written the story but before it's published.

She had accepted the invitation instantly, no hesitation. It's Charlie and Nancy, and it's a holiday weekend, and her instant reaction was that she'd love to spend it with them rather than alone, no doubt ending up working through most of it to avoid driving herself crazy with her own company. Now she's wondering if she did the right thing, if Will is going to spend the entire time snarling at her, making it clear that he doesn't know what Charlie was thinking and that as far as he's concerned she really isn't welcome. She flicks the light off and steps out into the bullpen where it's as quiet as she would expect the Friday night of a holiday weekend. What she doesn't expect is for Will to step out of his office at the exact same time, she had just assumed he would have left for the night already. She jumps slightly, smiling in embarrassment at her reaction as he walks towards her.

"I thought you'd be long gone by now," she says, stopping in front of him, pushing her hair behind her ear. "Everything alright?"

"Fine." He nods. "What are you still doing here?"

"Oh you know me, first in, last out." She shrugs faintly, smiling up at him and wondering if she's the cause of the frown creasing his forehead. "So...I guess I'll see you at Charlie's place tomorrow."

"Yeah, I guess so." He nods, opens his mouth to speak again but seems to change his mind almost instantly.

"Okay then," she says, returning his nod and noticing that his frown has lifted slightly.

"Do you want to..." He stops, sighs, and goes on. "Look, I don't know how you were planning on getting there tomorrow but the car's picking me up at ten. Why don't I just have the driver swing by your place and we can go together?"

"You're having a company car drive you?" she asks, stalling as she thinks about whether the car journey could be the worst idea ever, or potentially the best. "All the way out to Montauk?"

"How the hell else would I be getting there?" He looks at her, apparently genuinely confused by the question.

"Of course...God forbid the great Will McAvoy would take the jitney with the normal people," she says, smirking at him. "I mean, seriously, it isn't-"

"Do you want a ride, or not?" he asks, his attempt at irritation foiled by the smirk pulling at the corners of his lips.

"Alright then...yes, thank you." She steps around him and moves for the door. "I'll be ready at ten."

*

She's ready way before ten, bag packed, checked, and checked again. She has a coffee, and a second, weighs up a third but rules it out thinking she's already hyped up enough without the addition of more caffeine. Standing in front of the mirror for the final time, she considers what she's wearing, cream shorts, a pale blue sleeveless shirt, and tan sandals with a low wedge heel. Weather appropriate, beach house appropriate, but looking like she has given it some thought...yep, she thinks, she looks fine.

Her phone buzzes and she grabs it as she reaches to pick up her weekend bag, followed by her smaller one, and a cardigan because she knows how cold he likes the damn air conditioning in the car. Sending a message back to Will telling him she's on her way down, she takes a breath, scoops her keys up from the bowl on the table, and heads out the door. The driver is outside the car when she comes out of her building and she smiles her thanks as he takes her weekend bag and opens the back door for her. Sliding into the back seat beside Will, she sees his eyes move almost automatically to her legs, giving a sweeping glance from thigh to ankle before he snaps himself out of it and pulls his eyes to her face, just as she manages to turn her smirk into something more neutral.

"Hey." He hands her a coffee, iced, double shot Americano with just a touch of milk. So much for staying away from the caffeine...

"Thanks." She smiles at him, taking the cup and sitting her bag in the seat between them

"Figured you'd be running around packing everything you owned for the next three days so wouldn't have had time for your usual fourteen cups of morning coffee," he says, watching as she takes a sip before rolling her eyes at him.

"I do not have fourteen cups of coffee in the morning," she says with a sigh. "I'll have you know though, I did get everything packed with enough time left to have _two_ cups."

"I'm impressed." His eyes dart once again to her legs, and she's suddenly very glad she chose the shorts over the dress she was considering, if it makes his journey as awkward as she fears hers might be.

"Well, I'm impressive." She surprises herself with her flirtatious tone but decides that if he's going to stare at her legs then she's going to give as good as she gets.

"You managed to get God knows how many damn outfits in your bag," he says, watching intently again as she takes the straw into her mouth and takes another sip from the coffee. "A fucking feat in itself."

"I can pack light when I need to." She shrugs and leans back in her seat, smiling at him. "Besides, it's the beach, I don't need many clothes at all. I bet you just packed three t-shirts and three identical pairs of shorts, didn't you?"

"I have pants too," he answers. "And a couple of shirts, you know, in case we go out. Same reason you packed a dress, I'm guessing."

"You know what else I packed?" She rests the coffee between her knees and opens her bag, looking across at him. "Snacks!"

"Snacks?" He repeats, looking confused and peering at her as she pulls out one ziplock bag after another.

"Yes, Will, _snacks_ , for the road." She grins at him. "You have to have snacks on a road trip, it's actually some kind of law, I believe."

"Pretty sure that's not true," he says, catching a bag of dried apricots she throws in his direction. "And it's Montauk, Mac. Less than three hours if traffic is okay, we're hardly hitting Route 66."

"Jesus, Billy, if I'd known you were going to be this much fun, I'd have just taken the jitney and made some new friends on the way." She pops a yoghurt covered cranberry in her mouth and glares at him.

"Fine." He sighs and opens the bag, turning up his nose and handing it back to her. "But I'm not eating whatever dried shit this is. Tell me you have actual snacks too? You know, food that humans are happy to eat, not just crap you give to animals because they can't talk to raise a complaint."

"Yoghurt covered cranberry?" She smiles sweetly at him as she holds out the bag, knowing in his opinion what she's offering is no improvement.

"If there isn't a bag of BBQ Fritos in there..." he says, pushing the bag she's offering away with a look of pure disgust. "Then I'm afraid you might have to take the jitney after all."

"I take no responsibility for your oncoming heart attack, let's get that straight right now," she says, pulling out the Fritos and tossing them into his lap, shaking her head as he grins at her.

They fall into silence and she turns to look out of the window, picking up her coffee and smiling as she hears him crunching his Fritos. They were always his favourite, she knows that hasn't changed, and it makes her sad to think that she will probably always remember these things, even five years from now, or ten, regardless of what they are to each other by then. She watches the city roll by, the streets busy and the heat of the morning obvious even from inside the cool car, and she forces the dark thoughts from her mind. Last time he was out of her life, she nearly died and he committed himself to mediocrity, alienating everyone around him, becoming somebody so far from the Will she knew that she struggled to believe what she was hearing about him until she came to New York and saw it for herself. The first few months were hard, every Friday fearing he would fire her, every Monday hoping it would be the week he would say that part of her contract was no more, that she didn't have to worry about being fired. That Monday never came but it did seem, at some point, to become an unspoken truth and they settled into something good, started to make a show they were both proud of, and somehow edged towards a cautious friendship. She can't imagine what might happen if they're apart again.

She is pulled from her thoughts by his hand on her arm and the smell of BBQ. 

"Frito?" He offers the bag to her and she shakes her head, grimacing.

"Do you know the crap they put in those things? I like my stomach lining the way it is, thanks," she says, watching as he shrugs and takes another chip from the bag. "Not to mention there are about six billion calories in that bag. I'd have to run to moon and back to work that off, every day for the rest of my life."

"You could have just said 'no thanks'," he says, his eyes following her lips to the straw, watching as she takes a mouthful of her drink.

"No thanks." She smiles, leaning back in the seat again. "You've been before? To Charlie's place out here?"

"Yeah." He nods, reaching for his own coffee and taking a drink. "Couple of times, but not for a while. It's nice, but it's going to be hot out there this weekend."

"I know," she says. "Better out there than in the city though, it's much less oppressive out of town where there's a breeze and more air. It'll be nice to be away for a few days, I don't remember the last time I went...well, anywhere, really."

She stops to think about the last time she just took a trip, somewhere for fun, to relax and get away from everything, and she knows with complete certainty that it was with Will. Everywhere she has been since Will has been for work and has turned out to be the polar opposite of relaxing. Wade suggested weekends away a few times but she managed to make her excuses, the knot of discomfort in her stomach weighing her down at the thought of it. She should have known then that things were never going to work between them, she probably _did_ know, but still she kept trying, like attempting to force the wrong key into a lock. Her phone rings and she startles slightly as she reaches for it, smiling as she sees who it is.

"Hi Daddy." She answers and glances at Will, hopefully managing to communicate that she'll just be a minute, smiling at him as he nods. "I'm fine. Everything's okay with you?"

"Jolly good, thank you, my darling." Her father's usual cheerful tone booms down the line and she grins. "It's your regular scheduled happy Fourth of July call. I've spoken to Harriet and now it's your turn."

"Harry's in California this week, Daddy," she says, picturing her sister's face at being woken up not long after seven on a Saturday morning.

"Yes, yes, I remembered that when she picked up the phone." He father chuckles and she shakes her head, smiling.

"And anyway, it's only the second today, not the fourth." She glances across at Will, biting her lip as he looks out of the window, studiously pretending not to listen.

"Well, I wasn't sure what your plans were for the weekend, Mackie," he says. "I shan't be pleased if you tell me you're planning to stay at home and work."

"Actually no, I'm spending the weekend in the Hamptons, at Charlie's house, we're in the car right now," she says, knowing instantly that he will pick up on the "we" and deciding to clarify before he asks. "I'm with Will."

"Marvellous! Well then, I'll run along and let you get on with your weekend, wouldn't want to spoil your fun." She can hear his smile down the line. "Do tell Will I said hello, won't you?"

"I will, Daddy." She smiles and feels Will's eyes back on her as she wraps up the call. "I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

"Indeed," he says. "Lots of love, darling."

"You too, give my love to Mum too." She ends the call and drops her phone into her bag, turning to Will. "My dad says hi."

"He still does that every year?" Will smiles at her. "Calls his two American daughters to wish them a happy holiday?"

She nods and smiles back at him, thinking about her father's insistence that he has two daughters born in America so it's only right and proper he acknowledges it on the Fourth of July each year. She doubts Harriet appreciates it quite as much this year, having obviously been woken up early by a very enthusiastic Robert McHale.

"I always liked your dad, Mac," Will says, quietly, keeping his eyes on hers. "I'm glad he's doing well."

Swallowing hard, she can't help recalling the first time he met her parents, how nervous he was, telling her quietly that it was really important to him that they like him. He asked about her mother's favourite flowers, if there was anywhere in DC that she knew they were particularly keen on for dinner, and eventually she had sat him down and told him to stop worrying, assuring him that they would love him because they would see now much she did. Her mother adored him instantly, the combination of the flowers, his natural charm and obvious love for her daughter winning her over. Her father had been slightly more wary, concerned about Will being older than her, worried that she was simply smitten by his on air persona, but by the time they all met for dinner and the two had spent the afternoon bonding over baseball it was clear that whatever Will had said had been enough to convince her father of his intentions.

Aware she can't keep doing this when she's about to spend an entire weekend with Will, she pushes her memory back into the corner of her mind housing all the others, and turns to him, smiling.

"He is," she says. "He's really well."

*

They arrive out at Charlie's just after one, pulling up outside the house, the smell of the sand and the salty air filling Mackenzie's lungs as the car door opens. She's cramming the rest of the snacks back into her bag as Will climbs out of the car ahead of her, and she smiles as she hears Charlie's voice.

"You made pretty good time!" Charlie sounds pleased, probably expecting traffic to be heavier than it was. "Listen, I don't suppose you know what time Mac is planning on getting in? I was just thinking about someone running down and picking her up."

"I'm right here." She steps out of the other side of the car and grins at him, glancing at Will, noting his awkwardness mixed with obvious relief at her having saved him from telling Charlie she was here with him. "This place is gorgeous, Charlie."

"Well..." He looks at Will, and then back at her, a slow smile making an appearance. "Mackenzie McHale not wearing a pencil skirt. Will wonders never cease?"

"I do own other clothes," she says, stepping towards Will and reaching for her weekend bag. "It's way too hot for a pencil skirt, and besides, we're at the beach."

"It's okay, I've got it." Will starts to walk ahead of them, both his bag and her own in his hands, and she smiles.

"I gotta say, I didn't expect you two to be stepping out of the same car." Charlie puts an arm around her shoulder and grins. "Was it the longest three hours of your life?"

"Hell, I put him on the air every night, and sometimes I can even get him to smile," she says as they start to walk towards the house. "I can handle a car ride."

"Course you can." He squeezes her shoulder as they reach the steps up to the front porch. "I'm really glad you could make it, Mac."

"Thanks for inviting me." She smiles at him as he follows Will in through the door. "I feel like a weekend away might be just what I need."

"Alright," he says, his eyes twinkling as he grins at her again. "Then let's make sure it's a good one."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Watching him step back outside and hand a bottle to Charlie, she feels Nancy's eyes on her and avoids turning back for just a second, unsure of what she might see in her gaze, fearing that it might be pity. She always assumes it's clear to anyone else how she feels about Will, and equally clear that it's unrequited, so when she does turn back, a bright smile in place, she's relieved to find Nancy looking at her with nothing other than curiosity._

She spots him leaning against the door frame, his hands in the pockets of his shorts, his eyes on her as she takes the clothes out of her suitcase, and it occurs to her that she has no idea how long he’s been standing there or, more importantly, why he’s standing there.

“Did you need something?” She frowns at him as she moves to hang up her dress, hoping the creases will drop out before she has to wear it.

“No.” He straightens up slightly, taking one hand out of his pocket and reaching around to scratch the back of his neck. “I just wondered how long you might be? If you wanted me to bring a drink up here for you?"

“Oh.” She’s surprised, having half pondered if he was building up to asking her why she accepted Charlie’s invitation, questioning what she’s doing here at all. “No, I’m almost done here, I’ll be down in a sec…thanks though.”

He nods and there’s a half smile on his face as he turns away, sliding his hand back into his pocket. She watches him walk out of the room, reminded again of how different he looks when he’s dressed down, and how it’s even more noticeable in summer, his shorts and t-shirt so at odds with the suit and tie his viewers are used to.

She runs a comb quickly through her hair and freshens up her lip gloss before heading downstairs and into the kitchen, where Nancy is wiping down the counter and she can see that Charlie and Will are standing out on the porch, beers in hand.

“Can I help with anything?” she asks, stepping towards Nancy and smiling as she turns to her.

“Nothing to help with, Charlie and I are taking the two of you out for dinner tonight.” Nancy smiles and moves towards the fridge, pulling out a half-finished bottle of wine. “Actually, you _could_ help me with this.”

“I think I can manage that,” she says, glancing outside where Charlie is pointing something out to Will and Will is nodding appreciatively. “This is such a beautiful house, Nancy, so peaceful. You must be out here so much in the summer.”

“We’d be out here a whole lot more if Charlie would ever see fit to retire.” Nancy raises her eyebrows. “But still, it _is_ lovely and we get out here as much as we can.”

“Charlie says your grandsons will be here tomorrow?” she asks, taking the wine Nancy hands to her. “They’re how old?”

“Ned just turned four, Beau is thirteen.” Nancy pauses to take a sip of her wine, smiling over the top of the glass. “Like chalk and cheese too. Ned talks almost non-stop and Beau’s a real thinker, pretty quiet most of the time. They’re good boys, and you should probably be prepared for them to follow you around like lovesick puppies. Well, Ned at least, Beau will try to hide it a little better.”

“What do you mean?” she asks, frowning slightly.

“Oh, just that Will has been pretty vocal about you,” Nancy says, smirking at her. “Beau wants to talk to you about school in England, I think he actually has a list of questions written down, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Consider me warned.” She smiles, trying to think of something other than Will talking to the boys about her, and the realisation that whatever he said was clearly complimentary, deciding instead to aim for a change of subject. “Thank you for inviting me out here this weekend, it's so kind of you.”

“Nonsense.” Nancy smiles back and takes another drink. “I’ve been dying to spend some proper time with you, I feel like the few times we’ve met have been so brief that we’ve barely had time to talk at all. I'm just glad we caught you before you made other plans for the holiday.”

"If I'm honest, I'd probably just have spent the weekend working, and yelling at Fox News." She shrugs and takes a drink, sighing as she leans against the counter.

“Well, I'm glad we won out in that contest.” Nancy says, opening the fridge door as Will walks in from the porch and gesturing to the beer bottles in the door with a nod.

"Thanks." He grabs two and nudges the door closed, opening both bottles before turning to look first at Nancy, then at her. "You should bring your drinks outside, it's nice out. I mean, it's hotter than hell but still, it's nice."

"You're really selling it, Billy." She grins at him and he shrugs as he walks past her, the beer bottles in one hand as he squeezes her shoulder lightly with the other.

Watching him step back outside and hand a bottle to Charlie, she feels Nancy's eyes on her and avoids turning back for just a second, unsure of what she might see in her gaze, fearing that it might be pity. She always assumes it's clear to anyone else how she feels about Will, and equally clear that it's unrequited, so when she does turn back, a bright smile in place, she's relieved to find Nancy looking at her with nothing other than curiosity.

"He's right," Nancy says, tilting her head in the direction of the porch. "It is hot out there, it's why we went for the house with the pool."

"That sounds really nice about now, actually." She glances down at her shorts and thinks about how good the cool water would feel on her feet, looking back up at Nancy and smiling.

"I'm going to go grab my suit, I think." Nancy moves to open the porch door and lets Charlie and Will know they're planning to swim, grinning as they both head inside and towards the stairs with Nancy behind them.

She steps out onto the porch and around the corner where the pool gleams in the sunlight, rippling gently, the water looking quietly inviting. Kicking off her sandals, she pushes them under one of the chairs and sits down on the edge of the pool, slipping her legs into the water, sighing at the feel of it, as refreshing as she had hoped it would be. She thinks about how nice to would be to have somewhere like this to retreat to in the summer, to get away from the city, to feel a different kind of heat on her skin. Her thoughts drift to Charlie and Nancy's grandsons arriving tomorrow, and what a great place this is for kids to spend their weekends...the pool, the air, the beach so close by. She knows if she and Will had had kids, they'd have been bringing them up in the city, whether it be DC or New York, but she thinks a summer place would have been something they'd have considered. The porch door opens and she hears footsteps on the wooden decking, knowing it's Will without needing to look, his familiar sound long ingrained within her.

"Nancy suggested the pool?" He sits down beside her, his t-shirt gone, his brown shorts swapped for blue swimming shorts.

"She did." She nods but doesn't look at him.

"You okay?" There's concern in his voice and it makes her even less inclined to turn to him.

"Yeah. I'm just...I'm not sure..." She pauses, suddenly feeling silly, but carrying on. "I'm not sure I should be here...I mean, it's lovely to get away and so sweet of them to invite me, but I think I said yes without realising it was just family."

"And me." He nudges her shoulder gently and she can hear the smile in his voice. "I'm here too."

"You are family, Will," she says, finally turning to look at him. "You must know that's how they see you?"

"Charlie wouldn't have invited you if he didn't think of you that way too," he says, his soft smile giving her the courage to ask her next question.

"What about you?" She bites her lip, watching his smile fade just slightly. "Do you wish I wasn't here? Never mind, don't answer that, I'm sorry, I don't know what I-"

"No." He stops her, his tone firm. "I'm glad you're here."

"I just...well, I wouldn't want to be the big black raincloud looming ominously over your sunny weekend." She relaxes slightly and manages a hint of a smile in his direction.

"You're not," he says, and she's about to respond when she realises he isn't finished. "Jesus, you're pretty much the total opposite of that."

"The opposite of a raincloud?" She quirks an eyebrow. "What does that make me, a sunbeam?"

"Yeah, I guess, something like that." He shrugs but he's still smiling even as he looks away for a second, his eyes fixed on her legs in the water. "You make everything brighter, you always have, and I know you're not even trying to, it's just _you_. It's...infuriating."

"Infuriating? My optimism is infuriating?" She's amused because she can hear the awkwardness in his tone, the knowledge that he has started a conversation he probably didn't mean to. "I don't know what to say to that, I-"

"And endearing, whatever, it's what..." He pauses and she watches as his gaze shifts from her legs slowly back up to her face. "It's a big part of why I fell in love with you."

"Right." She's floored for a second, both by his words and the way he's looking at her, and then she's overcome by a desperate need to fill the loaded silence. "I've been spending six years thinking it was all down to my legs and it turns out my optimism is what did it."

"Can't deny your legs played a part," he says, giving her no chance to respond as he slides into the pool and swims towards the far end, moving through the water with strong, slow strokes.

She watches him, her eyes on his back, his arms, his shoulders, her gaze flicking down to her knees when he reaches the end of the pool and turns to face her before swimming back in her direction.

"Not coming in?" he asks, resting his arms on the edge of the pool, squinting up into the sun at her. "I know you have a bikini on under those shorts."

"I don't, actually," she says, laughing and shaking her head, shivering as his wet arm brushes against her thigh. "I think I'm a little bit past my bikini days."

"Pretty sure that's bullshit." He pauses and lifts himself out of the water to sit beside her again.

"Well, it's been a while since you've seen me in a bikini, Billy." She doesn't mean to sound so sad but hears her own voice and realises there isn't anything she can do about it. "I don't really like to...doesn't matter."

"The scar." It isn't a question, just a simple statement because he knows she's changed very little physically other that that.

"It only ever invites two responses, curious stares or questions I really don't want to answer." She shrugs, gives him a faint smile as she continues. "So yeah, my bikini days are over."

"Look, I know I haven't seen it," he says, in a tone she knows is him aiming for casual while he's actually completely serious. "But hell, I'm sure it's not so bad."

"It's really not great...I mean, I don't really care how it looks, I'm used to it now," she says, looking away, feeling suddenly self conscious under his stare. "I...do you want to-"

"No!" He cuts her off and she bites her lip wondering if she has somehow managed to misread the entire situation. "I wasn't trying...I don't, I didn't mean to make you feel...do you want me to see it?"

She stands up, waiting for him to do the same before she lifts up the tank top she's wearing, rolls it up so it stays up, sitting just above her belly button. For a second he seems too entranced by the flat of her stomach, the curve of her hip to realise she's waiting for a response from him but then his eyes settle on the scar. She thinks it's probably bigger than he expected, an angry pink snarl that looks out of place on her pale skin, and she has a second of regret, thinking perhaps she should have kept it hidden.

"Told you it was awful," she says, filling the silence when he fails to say anything.

"It's not that, really, it's not." He pauses, reaches out and rests his fingers gently on her stomach, moving lower and running his thumb slowly across the scar. "It's just..."

The porch door opens suddenly and she takes a step quickly back, hoping she was fast enough, willing Charlie and Nancy not to have noticed what they were doing, and refusing to meet Will's eyes as she suffocates in the sudden awkwardness.

"Snacks and fresh drinks," Nancy says brightly, putting a tray down on the table behind them. "Should keep us going until dinner."

Stepping towards the table, she sees Charlie watching her and she smiles, faltering slightly as Will moves so close behind her that she can feel his breath on the back of her neck, but managing a deep breath as she passes him a beer and takes a Diet Coke for herself.

"You not swimming, Mac?" Charlie asks as she sits down on one of the chairs around the table and takes a drink.

"Not right now." She shakes her head and Will catches her eye, eyebrows raised as she stares defiantly back at him. "I brought a suit, I'll get in there before the weekend is over."

She spends the next hour by the side of the pool, feeling more relaxed than she has in a long time, watching as Will swims one more time before settling into the lounger beside her to dry off as she chats with Nancy. Eventually finding the energy to drag herself from the chair, she heads inside and takes a long, hot shower, letting the spray rinse away the sunscreen and carefully pulling the knots from her hair. She stretches out on the bed, wrapped in a huge fluffy towel, and checks her phone for anything important she may have missed. There's nothing in the news they need to worry about, and no messages other than one from her sister simply reading 'Call me on Tuesday, I need to hear all about this getaway to the beach with Will that you FORGOT TO TELL ME ABOUT.'

Grinning, she tosses her phone onto the bed and gets dressed, putting on the one dress she brought with her, pale blue cotton, knee length with a floral pattern. She only realises how rarely she wears a dress when it feels slightly odd to see herself in the mirror, but it's a nice dress and she fights the urge to take it off and replace it with pants and a top. They're at the beach, they're going out to dinner, and she's going to embrace it, so she pulls her hair back, secures it with a clip and heads downstairs.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Leaning back against the counter, she catches sight of Will coming down the hall towards the kitchen, followed by Nancy and the boys. Ned, the little one, stands shyly beside Will, half hiding behind his leg, clutching at his shorts, while Beau follows and smiles at her. Charlie introduces them and she can't help smiling as she remembers Nancy's words about the two of them the day before._

The first thing she thinks about when she wakes up is dinner last night. Not the food, although it was good, more how right it felt to be out with Will, sitting beside him, Charlie and Nancy opposite. She had worried it might be a little awkward, wondered if conversation would end up revolving around work, with Nancy having to try and steer them back to topics more neutral, but it hadn't. The talk had been easy, natural, like they were two couples out for dinner, and she had felt herself wishing so much for that to be the case. Rolling over, stretching slightly, she looks at the clock and decides to get up.

"Morning." Charlie is in the kitchen when she walks in and he looks up and grins at her. "Coffee?"

"Mmm, yes please," she says, smiling back at him.

"Nancy's gone to pick up the boys." He pours her a coffee and hands her the mug. "I think the plan is brunch and then to the beach, if that sounds okay to you?"

"Sounds great." She nods and takes a sip from the mug. "Will not up yet?"

"Haven't seen him." Charlie frowns faintly and takes a step closer to where she's standing. "You two seem...well, things seem pretty good between you right now."

"I guess," she says, thinking about how bad things got just a few months ago, culminating in Will bringing Brian into the newsroom for what proved to be a long, anxiety-inducing few weeks. "I mean, yes, we're okay at the moment, I think, although there's always the chance he's just thinking up my next punishment, so I'm hesitant to relax too much."

"Bringing Brian in was a real asshole move, even for Will," Charlie says, his frown deepening as she tries to smile at him but doesn't quite manage it. "I don't suppose it's any consolation, but I really do think he knows it was a step too far."

"It's not much consolation, no." She shakes her head, pausing to take another mouthful of coffee. "And I'm not sure he believes there's any such thing as a step too far when it comes to punishing me. I suppose I'm the idiot for sticking around for it, I probably should just-"

"You're not an idiot, Mac." Charlie stops her, a kind smile replacing his frown. "He's just really too fucking slow sometimes to realise it's him."

"We both know he isn't slow," she says, smiling back at him at last. "Stubborn is what he is, really bloody stubborn."

Leaning back against the counter, she catches sight of Will coming down the hall towards the kitchen, followed by Nancy and the boys. Ned, the little one, stands shyly beside Will, half hiding behind his leg, clutching at his shorts, while Beau follows and smiles at her. Charlie introduces them and she can't help smiling as she remembers Nancy's words about the two of them the day before.

It takes barely a few bites of brunch for Ned to come out of his shell and start smiling sweetly up at her, whereas Beau says little but seems to be taking everything in as he sits quietly next to Charlie. She makes a mental note to chat to him about school once they all head out to the beach later, wanting him to know it's really no problem if he has questions for her and that she's more than happy to help if she can. She watches Will with them over brunch, helping Ned with his orange juice, asking Beau about his music lessons, and once again realises what a great father he will be if that's what he wants with somebody one day. As ever, it's twinned with an empty sadness when she thinks about where they could have been by now had things been different, a sadness that she is starting to feel might never lessen, no matter how much time passes.

"Do you live in a castle?" Ned's voice jolts her from her thoughts and she looks up to see Will stifle a laugh before she turns to the little boy.

"A castle?" she asks, smiling when he nods. "No, sweetie, I don't. I live in an apartment, just a regular one, not even a fancy one like Will's."

"Oh," he says, the disappointment in his tone making her smile. "Does your Mommy live in a castle?"

"She doesn't live in a castle either, no." She pauses to push his glass of juice away from the edge of the table. "She does live in a country where there are lots of castles though."

"And horses?" He grins up at her and she finds herself reaching out to ruffle his hair before she really knows she's about to.

"Yes, lots of horses," she says. "I think the people who do live in the castles probably ride horses, don't you?"

"Yeah!" His grin grows wider, even as the piece of pancake he had balanced on his fork drops off. "White ones, with feathers on their heads!"

"Oh, definitely." She grins back at him, watching as he turns his attention back to his food, her gaze landing on Will's as she looks back up, his expression inscrutable.

They finish eating and she offers to help Nancy clear up, deliberately avoiding Will's eyes, and smiling kindly at Beau who seems to be looking at her every time she glances in his direction. She can hear Ned chatting to Will as she puts the bread away and puts the lid back onto the orange juice, telling him about a train he went on recently, or maybe one he just saw, she isn't quite certain. Will asks the little boy what colour the train was and if he knows where it was going, his enthusiastic tone making her smile as she hears Ned answering him. Turning back from the fridge, Nancy is standing smiling at her, looking briefly over at where Ned appears to have moved onto a new subject entirely.

"You were right," she says, nodding in the direction of Nancy's youngest grandson and smiling. "He's a real little chatterbox. It's adorable, _he's_ adorable."

"He is a cutie," Nancy agrees, handing her one more plate for the fridge, nodding her thanks. "I was right about Beau too. He won't stay tongue tied the whole day, I'm sure he'll manage to speak an actual sentence in your presence before he leaves."

She laughs and watches as Ned runs past her, with Will close behind, out onto the porch where Ned seems to begin to instruct Will on what he wants to take with him to the beach.

"God, I wish _I_ had Will that well trained," she says. "Maybe I should bring Ned to work and he can give Will his nightly orders."

"You're forgetting I've been a witness to the transformation in Will, and the show, since you arrived," Nancy says with a smile. "I have a feeling you've got him incredibly well trained."

"It was pretty bad for a while, wasn't it?" She bites her lip, thinking about the day Charlie offered her the job, a lifeline, really, and how in the short time she had been back she had heard nothing good about News Night or about Will. "The show, I mean?"

"I think..." Nancy pauses, appearing unsure about whether she should continue. "I think he just stopped caring, he was phoning it in, didn't give a damn about anything but the ratings. Poor Charlie, I don't think he had a clue what to do for a while."

"God, of all people, Charlie knew Will was capable of so much better," she says, shaking her head.

"He knew what he needed too." Nancy smiles. "When he knew you were back, he lit up, he knew if he could get you on board then you could turn the show around, make Will care again, about quality over numbers. My husband has a lot of remarkable qualities, and his ability to know what people need is one of his finest."

"Well, I needed a job," she says, returning Nancy's smile as she recalls the day Charlie found her in DC, in the same sweatpants she'd been in for a week, five days clear of her last hair wash, propping up the Lucky Strike bar at eleven in the morning. "Charlie was the only one who thought I was still capable of doing the news, he didn't look at me like I was fragile, like I'd fall apart under pressure. He looked at me like he appreciated I'd been through a tough time but that with a hand I could be okay again. I don't know if you can imagine how much that meant to me."

"Like I said." Nancy puts a hand on her shoulder, squeezing softly as she smiles again. "Somehow he just knows what people need. I'm glad he was the one who could bring you back in."

"Me too." She manages nothing more around the lump in her throat, simply nodding.

*

She puts on a swimsuit, even though she has no intention of going near the water, and after a moment's thought, adds a pair of shorts. Unlike their conversation beside the pool a day earlier, this is different and she knows Will won't push her on this. He is well aware of her jellyfish phobia, she doesn't need to tell him there is nothing that could persuade her into the water, especially after she read about a huge sighting in Sag Harbor just a week ago. Looking up, she sees him at the edge of the water with Ned, the little boy pointing at something in the sand before Will takes his hand and they slowly paddle in together. She turns as Beau sits down beside her, handing her a bottle of water with a shy smile.

"Thank you," she says, smiling back at him as he takes the lid off his own bottle and takes a sip. "Your grandma said you were thinking about where you might want to go after high school?"

"Yeah, a little." He nods and puts the water down next to him, wedging it into the sand before turning back to her. "I mean, I know I have, like, tonnes of time yet, but I was sort of just thinking ahead, you know?"

"Nothing wrong with that," she says, smiling again. "It's good to have ideas, even if they change totally by the time you need to decide. You're curious about going overseas, perhaps?"

"Maybe," he says with a hint of a shrug. "I mean, I know my grades would have to be amazing, but I'd love to go to school in England. You went to Cambridge, Will said?"

"I did. I always knew what I wanted to do, and Cambridge was always part of the plan." She pauses to take a drink, thinking about her time at school and how long ago it seems now. "My father went to Cambridge, and his father...not that my dad would have minded one bit if I hadn't wanted to, but I did. I knew I wanted Cambridge followed by Georgetown and then into journalism."

"Wow." Beau falls silent for a moment, looking at her then out at where Ned and Will are in the water, and back at her again. "So you ended up exactly where you always wanted to be?"

"As far as my career is concerned, absolutely." She looks up as Will picks up Ned and hoists him up onto his shoulders and she smiles. "But you don't need to worry about the rest of your life just yet, you have plenty of time still to decide what you want to do. I may be biased...no, I'm definitely biased, but I think you'd love school in England, and I think travel provides such valuable experience if you're lucky enough to be able to do it. What do you enjoy at school?"

"Music, History, English," he says as she nods. "I mean, I don't know what I would want to do at college, not really."

"Well, like I said, you have plenty of time for those decisions. Before you leave tomorrow, I'll give you my email and my number. I mean, hell, I'm no wise owl by any means, I'm far too young for that..." She grins at him and he blushes slightly as she continues. "But if you want to chat about school, or if you want me to speak to anyone at Cambridge, or whatever, you can get in touch whenever you like."

"That would be so awesome, thank you!" His enthusiasm makes her smile, he's a sweet boy, a lot of Charlie's spark so present in his eyes.

"You're welcome," she says. "It's no problem, I'm happy to help if I can."

Looking up, she sees Will and Ned heading up the beach towards them, Ned still on Will's shoulders, his hands resting on top of his head until he takes one off to wave at his brother.

"Beau, the water's so cold!" He lets out a squeal as Will raises his arms and plucks the little boy from his shoulders, putting him down in the sand.

"We brought a ball," Beau says to him, grabbing a towel, standing up and wrapping it around his younger brother. "Want to run around, warm up a little?"

"Yeah!" Ned grins and follows as Beau leads him to the ball and they move a little further along the sand.

Will drops down beside her and she hands him a towel which he drapes across his shoulders as her gaze fixates on a drop of water running slowly from his eyebrow down his cheek, navigating the curve of his jaw and onwards down his neck. She tears her eyes from him and glances down, picking up the water bottle and playing absently with the label, stopping when he removes the towel from his shoulders and drops it behind him.

"It really is fucking freezing in there," he says, nodding when she offers him her water bottle. "Too cold even for jellyfish, I think."

"I'm taking no chances." She smiles at him but when he moves closer, a look of concern in his eyes. "What?"

"Hang on." He reaches for the sunscreen and before she can process it, he has a small blob on his fingers which he rubs gently onto her nose before he pulls back. "There, you looked a little pink."

"Oh...thanks," she says quietly, looking away and trying to ignore how hard her heart is pounding in her chest simply at the slightest touch of his hand. Clearing her throat, she looks back at him and smiles. "Do you see them often? Charlie's grandsons?"

"Yeah, you know, a bit. In the summer like this, mostly." He nods and glances over at where the boys are playing with the ball. "They're good kids."

"It's good, I know how important Charlie is to you...anyway, it's nice." She turns to watch them too, Beau throwing the ball deliberately gently to his younger brother, Ned grinning widely when he catches it. "You're really good with them, Billy."

There are a few seconds of silence as they both watch the boys playing, and she wonders what he's thinking, if he ever thinks that they may have had this by now if things had ended differently, if she hadn't ruined it all. She thinks about it a lot, about blue eyed, blonde children, about walking alongside Will as he proudly totes their baby in whichever carrier is deemed the safest in the countless articles he would read before even considering buying one. Some days she almost convinces herself it could still happen, but in every scenario reality sets in eventually and she has to shake herself out of it.

"Beau was asking you about school?" He breaks the silence and she turns to face him, nodding.

"I think he's just curious," she says. "About what it would be like to go to school in England, to travel. He has a while to go yet, by the time he finishes high school he might have his heart set on something entirely different."

"You didn't," he says, handing the bottle of water back to her. "You always knew exactly what you wanted to do, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I know that's unusual, especially at Beau's age." She smiles at him and he returns it. "I know I was lucky to figure out so young what I wanted, it isn't like that for most people, I get that."

"Well, Beau's pretty taken with you." He raises his eyebrows and smirks. "I think if you told him he should go join the Bolshoi Ballet, he probably would."

"I did tell him that was my fallback if I hadn't have been accepted to Cambridge." She smirks back and he laughs, leaning closer again.

"I think that only works as a fallback option with legs like yours," he says, punctuating his words with a slow stroke of his finger across her knee and down her shin, leaving her speechless, able only to stare at him in complete confusion.

He squeezes her ankle and then pulls his hand back, leaving her baffled and still unable to say anything. She longs for her brain to conjure up a quick barb, a clever quip, but in her moment of dire need she has nothing.

"Feel free to stay awhile longer, but we're going to head back up to the house." Charlie's voice cuts through the silence and she breathes an audible sigh of relief, earning her a raised eyebrow before he continues. "I think Ned has probably had enough sun for today."

"I think I probably have too," she says, smiling up at Charlie as she stands, avoiding looking at Will as she shakes out her towel and puts her water, book, and sunscreen back into her bag. "I'm happy to head back."

She's aware of Will behind her as they begin the walk back, Ned's hand in hers, Charlie and Nancy ahead of them with Beau, but she can't quite bring herself to look back at him, confused still by his apparently smooth transition from hate to apathy to...something that feels entirely different. When she feels his hand on the small of her back, she sighs and realises they need to talk.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _She hadn't intended to run upstairs for any reason other than to remove herself from where she might hear whatever Will was about to say to Beau, so when she closes the door to her room and sits down on the bed, she doesn't quite know what she's doing in there. She's a capable, smart, fully grown woman, yet here she is, basically in hiding. She stands up and decides to take a quick shower and put on some fresh clothes, hoping that standing under a hot spray for a few minutes might clear her head._

"You were talking to Mac about school?" She stops as she hears Will's voice, peering into the room, watching Beau nod in response.

They've finished dinner and she is determined that this evening she'll talk to him, ask him what the hell he's been doing this weekend, if he's just messing with her. She'll simply tell him it's confusing, it's unfair and perhaps she really did make a mistake in coming here. Maybe she'll just lay it on the line and tell him she loves him and that why it's so damn hard for her to deal with this, his touches, the words that are kinder and the tone more flirtatious than it has been since she arrived in New York. For now, she's standing in the doorway, knowing she should move, aware that eavesdropping isn't quite right but somehow unable to force herself to step away.

"Yeah, she always knew she wanted to go to Cambridge, you know?" She hears Beau sounding enthusiastic and it makes her smile. "Like, even when she was my age. She's amazing...and she's, like, really beautiful too.

"She is pretty amazing." Her stomach flips at Will's words and she holds her breath as he goes on. "She hooks you first with the legs, and the accent, and then really reels you in with the brains...and bam, suddenly you're in so deep you can't see straight."

"She said if I was serious when the time comes to apply for schools, I should talk to her, I have her email and her cell number." Beau turns slightly and she sees him grin at Will.

"Yeah, well, that's a few years away yet, buddy." She can't see Will's face but she knows he isn't returning Beau's grin. "Mackenzie doesn't always stick around in one place for long, she-"

"She would if you married her." Beau stops him and she covers her mouth to stop a snort escaping that would surely give her away.

"What?" She wants to cheer at how Beau has managed to throw Will so quickly off kilter, and she watches as he runs his hand nervously through his hair.

"You should totally marry her, Will. My grandpa thinks so too." Beau is not letting up and she vows to give the kid a hug before he leaves tomorrow. "I mean, you love her, right?"

Suddenly she moves because she knows instantly that she doesn't want to hear him tell Beau that sure, he loved her once, _adored_ her, told her every day, but then she ruined everything. She doesn't want to hear him tell the boy that there's a fine line between love and hate. She makes it as far as the hallway before she runs, almost literally, into Charlie, blushing at his raised eyebrows almost as if he had walked right up and caught her listening in.

"Mac?" He looks amused, probably at the odd sight of her scuttling towards the stairs at top speed. "You okay?"

"Oh, yeah," she says, smiling at him. "I'm fine, I just need to pop upstairs for a second, I'm just...yeah."

"I'm hearing if my grandson runs off to school in England you're the one to blame." He smirks at her and she relaxes slightly.

"If he runs off to school in England, he'll have the best time of his life, so I'll say it in advance, you're welcome." She smiles, pausing on the first step. "I wouldn't worry just yet, Charlie, he's still young."

"You're not disappearing for the evening, are you?" He frowns and she shakes her head. "I think Beau talked Will into playing some music with him."

"No, I'll be back down in a little while." She smiles as the frown lifts from his face and he smiles back.

She hadn't intended to run upstairs for any reason other than to remove herself from where she might hear whatever Will was about to say to Beau, so when she closes the door to her room and sits down on the bed, she doesn't quite know what she's doing in there. She's a capable, smart, fully grown woman, yet here she is, basically in hiding. She stands up and decides to take a quick shower and put on some fresh clothes, hoping that standing under a hot spray for a few minutes might clear her head.

As she comes downstairs and back into the kitchen she can hear the music drifting in from the porch and she stops for a few seconds to listen. She misses Will's playing, so many nights he would strum lightly on his guitar after dinner as she sat beside him and listened, watching the contented look on his face, the hint of embarrassment as he shrugged off her compliments. She smiles as she thinks about it and steps out onto the porch, surprised by how warm it still is as she sits down opposite Will, tucking her legs under her, not missing the appraising look he gives her as she does.

She sits and watches the two of them play, Beau clearly keen to impress Will, Will looking relaxed as they run through a handful of familiar songs before stopping to pick up the drinks on the table in front of them.

"Alright, Beau," Charlie says, looking at his grandson with a grin. "One more and then you need to be heading to bed, so make it a good one."

"You pick something, Will." Beau watches as Will thinks for no more than a couple of seconds before he starts to play again.

She knows what it is instantly, of course, and it transports her back to six years ago so vividly she has to close her eyes. She remembers him trying to guess her favourite Beatles' song the first time he played for her, and she remembers laughing at some of his guesses before she had finally started to hum the opening bars to Here Comes The Sun, watching him as he nodded in approval. It's always been her favourite, and as soon as he knew that, he played it often, even trying to teach her how to play, to absolutely no avail. She could never have imagined a day when her favourite song would make her sad, but now it does, it reminds her of what she had and what she threw away, and for one horrible moment she thinks she might cry, right here in front of everyone.

Taking a deep breath, she avoids Will's eyes and stands up, heading inside and into the small bathroom off the far end of the kitchen, sitting on the toilet seat and reminding herself of how to breathe. She doesn't know how long she sits there, long enough that she hopes maybe everyone will have gone to bed by the time she makes it out of here and she'll be able to sneak to her room without being stopped. Wiping her eyes, she stares into the mirror, steels herself and opens the door, not particularly surprised to find Will leaning against the wall outside.

"You'd never picked up a guitar in your life," he says quietly.

"Piano," she replies, watching as his thumb slides absently up the door frame. "In the McHale house, it was piano all the way."

"You're not an easy student." He smiles and moves his hand from the door to squeeze her shoulder, so briefly she almost misses it.

"You know me, I'm not an easy anything." She pauses, looks right at him. "Maybe I just liked listening to you play."

"I'm sorry," he says, gesturing vaguely towards the porch. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine." She stops him because it's ridiculous, he did nothing wrong, all he did was play the song he thought she loved. "Beau went to bed?"

"Yeah, and Nancy went up to check on Ned," he says. "I should go help Charlie put the guitars away, I, um..."

"No, you should, absolutely," she says, nodding emphatically and dropping her gaze, waiting until he turns and walks away before she releases a long breath and walks slowly back towards the kitchen.

It isn't until she becomes aware of the curious look on Nancy's face that she realises she was miles away, leaning back against the counter, staring essentially at a blank wall. She could have been standing there for minutes or hours, she really isn't sure.

"Is Ned sleeping?" she asks, shaking herself out of her fog.

"He's totally wiped out." Nancy smiles at her. "That's what a day of fresh air and sunshine will do to a little one."

"Maybe not just the little ones," she says. "I don't remember the last time I spent so much time outside, it was really nice."

"You look like you got a little sun today." Nancy gestures towards her shoulder and opens the fridge door. "There's lotion in here if you need it."

"Thanks," she says, taking the bottle out and leaning back again.

"Is everything alright?" Nancy asks, smiling gently at her. "I mean, tell me to mind my own damn business, of course, but you seem a little...I don't know, jittery?"

"Good word, jittery," she murmurs, thinking about how obvious it must be if Nancy, who she really doesn't know all that well has noticed. "I'm okay, I just...can I ask you something?"

"Of course." Nancy nods and takes the bottle of lotion out of her hands, turning her gently around with a smile. "You talk, I'll put a little of this on for you."

"Oh, it's just...well, it's Will, I don't know what the hell kind of a game he's playing this weekend." She had intended to go in gently, to ask casually if Nancy had noticed anything about Will's behaviour, but it tumbles out so she goes on.

"What do you mean?" Nancy asks as she squirts lotion into her hand and puts the lid down on the counter. "This is going to feel cold, but it'll help."

"Okay, thanks." Taking a breath, she tries to organise her thoughts into some kind of logical sentence. "He's being so... _nice_ to me, I suppose, which I know sounds awful, like he normally treats me really badly, and he doesn't, not really, he just doesn't usually-"

"Flirt?" Nancy stops her and she feels relief flood through her that she hasn't been imagining it, that Nancy sees it too.

"Thank you," she says quietly. "I'm glad someone else has noticed, I thought I was going crazy. I just don't know what to think, I don't know what he's doing, if he's just toying with me for his own amusement and when we get back to the city everything will just be like before."

"Is that really what you think he's doing, Mac?" Nancy asks and her tone is hard to read. Cautious, perhaps, not wanting to commit to a side, understandably.

"No, I don't think so...I don't really know." She pauses for a second as the cold lotion catches her breath and gives her chance to think. "It's just...he's touched me more this weekend than in the entire year we've been working together again, and I don't want..."

"You don't want him to?" Nancy sounds worried suddenly as she continues. "Oh, Mac, you really need to tell him, tell him it makes you uncomfortable, and he-"

"Oh God, no, I didn't mean that, I know I could ask him to stop and he would never lay a hand on me again..." She closes her eyes and sighs loudly. "I guess that's the problem. I _don't_ want him to stop."

"Ah." Nancy says nothing more as she puts the lid back on the bottle and moves around in front of her, as she feels herself biting her lip nervously.

"Yeah." She sighs again as she looks at Nancy.

"I think you need to talk to him." Nancy says, a smile on her face so reminiscent of Penny McHale that it makes her grin, even in the middle of this conversation. "I'll tell Charlie it's about time he had an early night, and we'll leave the two of you in peace."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," she says, shaking her head quickly. "We can go for a walk in the morning or something, it's fine."

"You really want to lie awake another night with all this swirling around in your head?" Nancy asks, opening the fridge door and taking out a bottle of wine. "Here, tell Will you thought it might be nice to sit and have a drink, just the two of you."

"God, he'll think I'm trying to seduce him." She laughs and watches as Nancy reaches for two glasses and sets them down on the counter beside the bottle.

"Would that be such a terrible idea?" She lets out a surprised laugh as Nancy winks at her.

"I'm so sorry," she says. "You invite me here for a nice relaxed weekend and I lay all this on you."

"Nothing to be sorry for," Nancy says firmly. "Let me drag Charlie in and then you get out there and refuse to let Will leave that porch until he talks to you. That's my advice."

She follows Nancy out onto the porch and sits down on the chair next to Will's, crossing her legs, her foot stopping just short of brushing against his calf...if he can play games then she can too. He smiles at her and she returns it, narrowing her eyes as he wrinkles his nose.

"What can I smell?" he asks, leaning closer to her, taking an exaggerated sniff.

"Lotion," she says, pushing her shirt slightly off her shoulder and lifting her hair from the back of her neck. "Seems I caught a bit of sun today."

"Does feel pretty warm." His hand comes to rest on her skin without warning, his thumb rubbing gently across the nape of her neck.

"And your not remotely cool hand is going to help with that?" She glances back at him over her shoulder, smirking until he takes his hand away.

When she looks up, she sees both Charlie and Nancy watching the two of them, Charlie barely concealing a grin, Nancy with her eyebrows raised almost comically high. Nancy moves first, standing up and pulling a surprised Charlie up by his elbow before linking her arm through his and smiling at him.

"Now, we were going to have an early night tonight, weren't we?" She squeezes his arm as she looks pointedly at him, expertly ignoring his confused expression.

"We were?" he asks, frowning slightly but following his wife's lead and nodding. "We _were_ , of course. Let's leave these young ones to their late night parties."

"Goodnight." Nancy smiles at her and tugs on Charlie's arm.

She watches as they head into the kitchen and when she turns back to Will he has a slightly baffled look on his face. As she stands up and takes a step away from the chair, he catches her wrist, gently but enough to still her movement, looking up at her, eyebrows raised.

"You're not heading to bed too, are you?" he asks, his thumb running slowly around her wrist bone.

"I'm going to get us something to drink," she says, pulling her arm from his grasp.

"Alright." He nods and she gives him a faint smile, takes a deep breath and heads inside for the wine.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"I think you do know." She raises her voice, then remembers where they are and reluctantly lowers it again. "All the touching and the flirting, and the saying nice things. You have to know you've been doing it, and you must know it's confusing the shit out of me!"_

"Trying to get me drunk, Mackenzie?" His voice drops and runs right through her, fuelling a combination of attraction and annoyance.

"If it gets you talking, then sure," she says, looking at him, waiting for his eyes to meet hers.

"What do you want to talk about?" He finally looks at her, the challenge in his eyes starting to rile her up just enough that she thinks he might regret it if he decides to be difficult.

"Is that how you want to play this, Will? Really?" She pauses, takes a large gulp from her wine glass and stares at him.

"I'm not _playing_ anything," he says, unable to hold her gaze.

"You're sure about that?" She's started now, and there isn't a chance in hell she's letting him off the hook at this point. "Because all weekend it feels like you've been playing me."

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about." He snaps and so does she, standing up and turning on him, knowing her advantage will be shot to pieces the second he stands up.

"I think you do know." She raises her voice, then remembers where they are and reluctantly lowers it again. "All the touching and the flirting, and the saying nice things. You have to know you've been doing it, and you must know it's confusing the shit out of me!"

"I don't-" He frowns but he doesn't stand up so she goes on.

"I'm not finished," she says firmly, wrapping her arms around herself as she glares at him. "Why can't you just say what you're feeling? Would it really be so terribly difficult to just say 'I still hate you, Mackenzie', or 'I'm never going to forgive you, Mackenzie', or 'Your legs are driving me crazy, Mackenzie'? Would it?"

"Where in the name of fuck is this coming from?" He seems unable to resist any longer and stands up, annoying her simply by virtue of being so much taller than her.

"Oh, now you _are_ playing, because you're a lot of things but you're not dumb." She sighs, realising she's getting nowhere with this. "Is there nothing at all you want to say to me? Nothing?"

She turns away and waits, listening to his breathing, and to her own, wondering whose sounds the most furious. She's about to tell him if he doesn't have the balls to even talk to her about the way he's been behaving then he may as well return to making his hatred for her clear because at least then she knew where she stood. And then he speaks up.

"I'm sorry," he says, and she waits, fights the urge to turn and face him. "About Brian."

"Not as sorry as I am." She lets out a harsh laugh and cringes at the bitter sound of it. "Sorry I was so stupid, sorry it took me about three years too long to stand up to him, sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I ever laid eyes on him, sorry I-"

"I was talking about the story." She feels him step closer but she doesn't turn around. "I'm sorry I brought him in to do the _story_."

"I know," she says quietly, remembering the regret in his eyes when the power went out, almost taking her shredded nerves with it.

"I don't hate you, Mackenzie," he says, her name sounding soft on his tongue as it always does. He pauses for a beat before going on. "I haven't hated you in a long time, if I ever did at all. You know me, I'm a stubborn asshole-"

"I've noticed that." Plucking up the courage, she turns to face him, biting her lip, her arms still wrapped tightly around herself.

"I guess after I left you that message, and you never mentioned it, I just thought, you know…" he says, confusing her because she has no idea what he's talking about. He leaves her plenty of messages and she returns them, or she yells at him the next day for calling with garbled nonsense at three in the damn morning. "I figured you didn't feel the same, but then you showed up here for the weekend, looking so good, and in those damn shorts-"

"Don't you fucking dare go there!" She's furious suddenly and she will not allow him to turn this on her. "A woman shows up to the beach in shorts, typical man can't keep his eyes in his head and it's the woman's fault? Seriously, Will, I can't believe you-"

"You know I didn't mean it like that!" He stops her, pauses, throws his hands up, somewhat dramatically she thinks, and goes on. "I just meant that...for fuck's sake, Mackenzie, I'm just saying after I left you that message-"

"I don't know what message you're talking about." She sighs and takes a calming breath. "I don't know if you quite realise how many meandering messages you tend to leave me in the dead of night, so you'll have to forgive me if I don't know quite which one you're talking about."

"The night of the Bin Laden broadcast," he says. "I left you a message. I know you know which one I'm talking about."

"I feel like this is going to be the longest night of my life," she says, with a sigh. "I repeat, I don’t have a clue what you're talking about."

"There is no way.." His voice drops lower and he takes a step closer to her. "No fucking way you don't remember what that message said."

"Will, you were wasted that night," she says, remembering how his glassy eyes and sloppy grin somehow faded and he got through the show without a single stumble. "Do _you_ even remember what the message said?"

"I..." She watches as he appears to wage some internal battle, only to decide silence is the victor. "Doesn't matter."

"Oh, no." She shakes her head slowly. "It clearly does matter for you to be bringing it up two months later. What did it say?"

"You're right, I was high, it was probably just some fucking shit or other." He shrugs and moves to sit back down but she stops him with a hand on his arm, her fingers gripping his skin probably a little too tightly.

"Mere seconds ago you were standing there saying there is no possible way I don't remember what the message said, and now you're expecting me to believe that, actually, you don't remember and it was probably nothing?" She releases her grip, confident for the moment that he isn't going anywhere.

"You know what, we should finish this wine," he says, nodding towards the bottle on the table. "It's late, and-"

"You're not going to tell me?" She waits, watching him as he refuses to look at her, before turning and striding through the doors and back into the kitchen, half hoping he won't follow, half praying he will.

"Mac, wait, please." She feels his hand on her shoulder and she stops, halfway across the kitchen, turning back and waiting for him to go on. "I'm sorry...okay, alright, I told you...fuck, I told you I loved you, and you were spectacular and I loved you-"

"No you didn't," she says, annoyed by the crack in her voice. "You haven't told me any of those things, not for a really long time, I don't know what-"

"The message." He cuts in, dropping his hands to rest on her shoulders, relief clear in his eyes when she doesn't shrug him off. "I told you I wasn't just saying it because I was high, but you were spectacular that night, and that I loved you, love you and I've never stopped. That's what it said, the fucking message, that I fucking love you."

"You're killing me with this level of poetry, I hope you know." She pauses, her mind reeling as she thinks about a message she never got, and how differently things could have gone if she had.

"I can do better, shit." He runs his hands down her arms and cups her elbows, slightly awkwardly, like he wants desperately to touch her but doesn't quite know how to. "Hang on-"

"Wait, do you still?" She suddenly realises he said love, present tense, and she feels her heart pounding so hard she can almost hear it. "The message was what, two months ago...was it your 'I loved you but enough is enough' moment, like in Love Actually when that guy tells Keira Knightley that he did love her but he's going to stop because it's not healthy and-"

"I have no fucking idea what you're talking about now, but yes," he says, smiling at her as her eyes widen. "I loved you six years ago almost from the minute I met you, I loved you four years ago when I was the idiot who let you go, I loved you two months ago when I left that message, and I love you now. I just _love_ you, Mackenzie."

"You love me?" She's aware she's behaving like someone just swooped in and removed her brain, and she scrambles to regain control. "Still? Now?"

"Fuck." He smiles at her. "I'm really not making this as clear as I thought, am I?"

"No, you are...I just need to let it sink in. You love me," she says, more firmly as it starts to make sense, before the need to say it back overwhelms her, because maybe she's the one who hasn't been clear. "I love you too. Billy, you know that, don't you? That I love you?"

"I...I'm not sure what I thought." He moves his hands to her face and she feels his fingers slide into her hair, his thumbs gently stroking across her cheekbones. "I mean, I think-"

"Stop thinking, and just listen." She sighs as he backs her slowly against the counter and she knows he's going to kiss her. "I love you."

He kisses her and she clutches at him, overwhelmed by the feeling of his lips on hers after so long, his hands on her face. She had convinced herself she would never feel his kiss again, his fingers softly stroking her skin, his breath mingling with hers, and the combination of it all floods her with relief. Barefoot, she's reminded of just how tall he is as she moves almost onto her tiptoes to deepen the kiss, and grips the fabric of his t-shirt to keep her balance, curling her fingers tightly against his back. Pulling his hands out of her hair, he slides them down her back and lifts her up onto the counter, his lips never leaving hers even as she lets out a surprised squeak.

"Wouldn't want you to get a crick in your neck," he murmurs, pulling back just a fraction and rubbing his nose playfully against hers.

"You're very considerate," she says, aware suddenly of how much she's missed playful Will, conscious too that she was largely responsible for his absence and vowing to make sure he sticks around.

His hands come to rest on her knees, pulling them apart so he can step in between her legs as he kisses her forehead, then her cheekbones, and lastly her lips again, slowly, like he's relearning her taste in the same way she's savouring his. He strokes his fingers down her thighs, his touch so light it's almost unbearable, and she moans against his mouth as her hands shift to land on his face, her fingers tracing the curve of his jaw. When his thumbs reach her knees and start to move in circles around the bone, she pulls back and gazes at him, drinking in the adoration she sees in his eyes, the look she remembers so well from years ago.

"I don't hear you complaining about me showing up in my shorts now." She raises an eyebrow, her breath catching as he runs the backs of his fingers up the inside of her thigh, stopping when he reaches the hem and sliding his thumb under the soft cotton.

"Nope," he says, rubbing his thumb across her skin to make his point. "No complaints here."

His hand moves higher under her shorts, his fingers running across the seam of her underwear as he dips his head to rest his lips against her neck. A sudden wave of awkwardness washes over her at the thought of the two of them continuing this here, in Charlie and Nancy's kitchen. When she feels his finger slip into her panties, she moans, pushes her hand into his hair and reluctantly pulls his face from her neck so she can look at him.

"We can't do this," she says with a sigh. "Here, I mean, it's just...anyone could walk in and we're in someone else's kitchen, someone else's _house_."

"Honey, it's Charlie's house." He smiles at her and moves his hand back down to her knee, resting it softly on her skin. "You know he'll be the first one to hang out the fucking flags."

"I know, but it feels...I don't know, just not quite right, I guess." She shrugs and feels silly because she knows he's right, Charlie would be ecstatic for them, but still, she can't quite relax. "Say that again though, what you just said."

"That he'd hang out the flags?" he asks, confusion on his face.

"No, I got that, but..." She pauses, unable to stop the smile she feels pulling at her lips. "You called me honey, and I...I've missed that."

"Would my honey feel better if we moved this party elsewhere?" He pushes her hair behind her ear and smiles.

"I think she would." She nods and reaches for his hand, squeezing gently as she returns his smile and then giggles as it becomes clear he's about to lift her from the counter. "Steady on, Billy. If you're going to throw out your back, it's not going to be before we make it to bed."

"Your room or mine?" He steps back as she climbs down from the counter and takes hold of his hand.

"I really don't care," she says, pausing and rethinking. "Actually, that's not true, if we're going to do this in Charlie and Nancy's house, I'd like to try and not wake anyone so we can all make eye contact in the morning."

"Can I remind you how incredibly sexy your strategic thought processes are?" He grins as she starts to tug on his hand and pull him towards the door.

"Wait." She stops as they reach the hallway, lowering her voice. "Which room are you in?"

"The one right opposite yours," he says, pausing as they each seem to have the same realisation. "Meaning everyone else is on the other side of the house, right?"

"Right." She nods and bites her lip, allowing it to sink in that she's about to go to bed with Will for the first time in more than four years, the very thought of it sending a flush to her cheeks. "Then I guess it really doesn't matter, does it?"

"It's really not going to matter once I get started." His voice drops low and he squeezes her hand. "I promise you that."

They end up in her room, for no reason other than it's the first door they stumble through as they reach the top of the stairs, his lips having already latched onto the side of her neck as they hit the hallway. The soft, almost chaste kisses of downstairs are replaced immediately with hungrier, more intense efforts, interrupted for only the briefest of seconds when she turns back to lock the bedroom door. She isn't surprised at how quickly it escalates from there, it's clear he wants her as much as she wants him and it's really only when they're on the bed, her shorts being pulled slowly down her legs that she can accept that this is actually happening.

His mouth is all over her, his tongue runs up the inside of her thigh, over her hipbone, across her abdomen, and she has to bite her lip to contain the sounds she wants to make as a tiny portion of her brain is still reminding her where they are. He moves to cover her, her legs parting and wrapping almost instinctively around him, her feet locked together and resting on the small of his back. His kiss pushes her back into the pillow, his tongue sweeping firmly across her bottom lip, her moans disappearing into his mouth. God, she's missed him, his weight on her, his eyes dark as they gaze into hers, his hardness pressing against her as she lifts her hips to meet his.

"Do we need..." He stops, letting out a long groan when she grips his shoulder and takes his earlobe into her mouth. "Mac, we have about five seconds before this question is redundant. Do we-"

"No," she says quickly, aware he'll assume she's taking something, not that it's unlikely she could get pregnant no matter how much she might want to. That's a conversation for another day, she realises. "I mean, I don't...I think, of the two of us, you were getting laid way more, so-"

"I was beyond careful, I swear." He waits for her to look at him, and he rubs his thumb across her chin when she does, smiling. "If you're fine, then we're okay."

She nods and kisses him, her legs tightening around him as he pushes slowly inside her and starts to move. His lips move down to her neck and she smiles as his tongue swirls across her skin, moaning loudly (probably a little _too_ loudly) when he threads his fingers through hers and squeezes her fingers. Lifting his head from her neck, he fixes his eyes on hers, a slow smile spreading across his lips as she moans again before biting it back and gripping his hands more tightly. When he pushes deeper into her and starts to speed up, the bed starts up a rhythmic squeak and she giggles, thinking about how strangely fitting it is that she was so worried about trying to keep quiet, only for it to be the bed that might end up giving them away.

It doesn't seem to put him off, he keeps moving and his eyes never leave hers, something she had tried hard to forget because it hurt too much while they were apart to remember how much he values eye contact when he's inside her. The first time they slept together she struggled with it, to deal with the intensity focused solely on her, and she knew it was because nobody had ever been like that with her before. The realisation had come only later that it was because nobody had ever, or would ever, love her like he did. Almost as though he can read what she's thinking, he takes one of his hands from hers and strokes his thumb tenderly across her bottom lip.

"I love you, Mackenzie." His voice is low and she feels his hand move to her thigh, his fingers trailing slowly down towards her knee as she moans again and closes her eyes, finally overcome by everything she's feeling.

When his hand slips in between them and pushes gently against her, his fingers moving to exactly where they need to be, she comes with a long, loud sigh of relief as she grasps his shoulder and pulls him to her. Ignoring the squeak of the bed and the moans she's no longer even trying to suppress, she moves her hand into his hair and murmurs his name, knowing he's about to come, the change in his breathing as recognisable to her now as it always was. Tugging harder on his hair, she sighs as he comes, his breath hot on her neck, his hand tight in hers as she quietly tells him she loves him, that she never stopped.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Her thoughts drift to him having left a message two months ago telling her he loved her, two damn months ago. Or at least he left a message on someone’s phone that he had been certain (as certain as a person who is that high can be) was hers._

She gets up and cracks open one of the windows a little, thinking it's still early enough that some hint of a breeze may make it in to cool off the room and go some way towards dispersing the smell of...them. She doesn’t remember if they turned on the ceiling fan when they came to bed last night, but if they did one of them has turned it off since. They…when _they_ came to bed. Climbing back in, sliding under the sheet despite the warmth of the morning, she turns to look at him and smiles as she thinks about how they somehow got from her thinking he still hated her, that he didn’t want her here at all, to this, to him on the pillow beside hers. She remembers his morning hair with a silly fondness, she likes that it’s the total opposite of his perfectly coiffured TV hair, and she likes it even more when she knows she’s responsible for the mess.

Her thoughts drift to him having left a message two months ago telling her he loved her, two damn _months_ ago. Or at least he left a message on someone’s phone that he had been certain (as certain as a person who is that high can be) was hers. God, she hopes whoever did get it was oblivious to whose voice they were listening to, the last thing they need is for TMI to get hold of it, she doubts Nina Howard would be quite so kind to them a second time. She also wishes she could hear it, not that it matters now, not after he made it quite clear last night how much he still loves her, but still, there's a curiosity about it that she can't deny.

He opens his eyes and when she realises she's been blatantly staring at him, her first reaction is to look away, followed quickly by the knowledge that she doesn't have to do that now, she can gaze at him all she likes and it's okay. He reaches a hand out and runs it down her arm, smiling as she shifts closer, unable to resist touching him too, her fingers trailing slowly across his chest.

"What happens when we get back to the city?" she asks, unsure of what she's really asking but needing to hear his answer anyway.

"Well, first off we do what we did last night but you can worry a lot less about how much noise you make." He smirks and she knows he's only just awake and taking a few seconds to figure out what she's asking.

"I'm not entirely sure my neighbours would agree, but I do like that idea." She pauses, leaning in to kiss him, wanting him to know she isn't doubting anything either of them said last night, but somehow needing reassurance.

"My neighbours wouldn't give a damn," he says, moving his hand from her arm to rest on her thigh as he fixes his eyes firmly on hers.

"That's the difference between your neighbours and mine, Will." She feels his fingers lightly tickle her thigh and smiles. "Yours are used to it."

"You know, there really haven't been as many as you think," he says, sliding his hand around the back of her knee, grinning as she squirms slightly. "And not a single one of them mattered."

"I was kidding." Her hand covers his and pulls it back up to her thigh, and she laughs at his pout. "Relax, sulky, it tickles, that's all."

"So...back to your original question, I-" She stops him with another kiss, unable to resist trying to erase the worried look from his face, smiling softly at him as she pulls back.

"I didn't mean anything by it." She shrugs, sighing faintly as his thumb skims across her hipbone. "I think this just feels like a bit of a holiday weekend bubble. Silly, I know. I know this is real, it's just-"

"What happens when we get back to the city?" He repeats her question, stopping her from descending into complete babble, and she nods, waiting for him to continue. "We decide where we want to live, your place, my place, new place, wherever. And then we get married...tomorrow, next week, next month, whenever you want, however you want, and then we do that happily ever after shit I've read about, for like the next fifty years."

"I'm pretty sure I can organise a killer wedding," she says, letting his words sink in. "But I don't think even I could manage it by tomorrow."

"Let's scratch tomorrow then," he says, grinning as she pushes herself against him, her foot running down his calf. "Pick a date, any date."

"You know I've always wanted to be a June bride, but I really don't want to wait almost a year, so...August 1st." She smirks at him, expecting to throw him off balance with an actual date, a date chosen for no other reason that it just falling into her head and out of her mouth, but he just nods.

"August 1st sounds great." He returns her smirk as he continues. "If you're okay with getting married on a Monday."

"Dammit," she says, frowning. "Alright...Labor Day is September 5th, another long weekend...I'd like to rescind my original choice and go with September 3rd."

"September 3rd it is." He moves onto his back and pulls her with him until she comes to rest half on his chest, his hands running up her shoulder blades as she giggles at the enormity of their conversation. "What? You didn't think I was serious?"

"No," she says, still giggling. "I mean, yeah, I did, I just...isn't this something that people agonise over, spend months debating? I just picked a random date and you said okay."

"I told you, tomorrow, next week, whenever." His hands move into her hair and he kisses her, quickly, firmly. "I wanted to marry you six years ago, I want to marry you now, it's not hard."

"Hmm, is there something I can do to _make_ it hard?" She quirks an eyebrow and tilts her hips against his, making her double entendre quite clear. "We already crapped all over my reservations about doing it under Charlie's roof last night, so..."

*

Will is making coffee when she walks in, taking a look around the kitchen before making her way over to him, squeezing his hand quickly and giggling when he keeps hold of it as she tries to pull away.

"You snuck me out of your room like a naughty teenager, and it was all for nothing," he says, pulling her against him, sliding his hands around her waist. "We're the only ones awake."

"I didn't _sneak_ you out," she says, sighing. "I just thought maybe sauntering down the stairs together with 'we had sex last night' written right across our faces might not be the classiest move. And I let you shower with me, didn't I? Let you put your fingers in all kinds of places where there haven't been fingers in a long time..."

"Mmm." He looks at her, a hint of a smirk on his face. "I did appreciate that-"

"Not as much as I did." She cuts him off, thinking about his hands all over her, his fingers as nimble as ever, pushing her against the wall until she wanted to scream but had kissed him hard instead, a compromise they were both happy with.

"But then you pushed me into the hallway." He pouts and she runs her fingers across his bottom lip, smiling at him. "And in nothing but a towel."

"Count yourself lucky you look really good in nothing but a towel." She bites her lip and her hand moves to his arm, her fingers curling against his bicep.

"Well, whatever." He grins at her and pulls her even closer. "My point still stands that we're the only ones awake."

"For now, maybe, but they're not going to stay in bed all day." She smiles again as his fingers move under her tank top and start to tickle her skin.

"I know." He nods and leans in to kiss her, pulling back for just a second and grinning. "But right _now_ , we're the only ones awake, so..."

He stops talking and kisses her again, her faintly considered protest disappearing as his hands move from her waist to gently cup her face. Her eyes drift shut and she sighs as his touch becomes more urgent, his tongue nudging between her lips. Vaguely she thinks they really shouldn't be doing this here, in the kitchen, for anyone who walks in to see them, a point proven when she opens her eyes to see a pyjama clad Ned standing quietly in the doorway. Her hands flat on Will's chest, she pushes him away slightly, nodding in Ned's direction and biting back a grin at the panicked look on his face.

"Hey, Ned," he says, running a hand through his already dishevelled hair. "How long have you been awake, buddy?"

"Just now, I guess." The little boy shrugs and walks over to stand in front of them. "Well, we were just..." he pauses, smiling at Ned. "Mackenzie and I, we were-"

"Billy." She puts a hand on his arm and smiles at him, shaking her head. "He's four, he doesn't care."

"Right." He nods, looking sheepishly at her. "Yeah."

"I'm hungry," Ned says, looking at her and scratching his head.

"Well then, we should fix you some breakfast, shouldn't we?" She leans down and runs her hand down through his hair, her fingers tickling the back of his neck.

"Come here, big guy." Will leans down and scoops him up, smiling at her as she turns to the fridge.

"Juice, Ned?" she asks, reaching for a cup when he nods. "And what would you like to eat? How about some toast?"

"Yeah, toast." He grins enthusiastically and it's adorable. He's such a sweet little thing, if he had just asked her for a four course meal she'd probably have started cooking it already.

She pours his juice and hands it to Will, watching as he hands it to Ned, keeping hold of it until he's certain the little boy has it securely in his hands. She opens the cupboard and tries to guess what four year olds like on their toast, before realising she really has no idea and turning back to him.

"Let me see if I can guess what you like on your toast..." He smiles as she tweaks his nose softly. "I think...peanut butter?"

"No." He shakes his head and his smile grows wider.

"Hmm...plain old butter?" she asks, watching as he leans closer in towards Will, his hand resting on his shoulder.

"Not butter." He giggles and she grins at him. "I don't think you can guess."

"Okay, I'm going to take one more guess and if I can't get it, I think you might have to tell me," she says, watching him whisper into Will's ear.

"I told Will," he says, proudly. "And he can tell you."

"Sweet, sticky..." Will pauses, his eyes firmly on hers, his tone threatening to bring a flush to her cheeks. "Made by bees."

"Honey," she says, smiling slowly at him. 

"Yes, sweetie?" he asks, smiling back.

"You're not this funny on TV." Glancing quickly at the door, she leans in and kisses him, a soft press of her lips against his, and when she pulls back Ned sighs, clearly not the slightest bit interested in their behaviour, simply in need of his breakfast. "Go and sit down with him, I'll bring his toast over."

She pours coffee for the two of them and leans back against the counter to wait for Ned's toast, taking the opportunity to watch him with Will at the table. He's not quite his talkative self when he's sleepy which she assumes is probably the same of most children his age, but he answers when Will asks if he's had fun this weekend. Turning the tables in the way only a four year old can, he asks Will if _he's_ had a fun weekend and she smiles as he looks up at her. Grinning at Ned, he tells him he's had the best weekend ever and she hears the little boy giggle as he swivels around in his chair to look at her.

"Are you having fun too?" he asks her, reaching eagerly for his toast as she puts it down in front of him.

"I am," she says, smiling at him and then at Will. "I'm having lots of fun, sweetie."

Stepping back to the counter, she picks up both coffee mugs and brings them over, sitting down next to Will, smiling again at Ned sitting at the end of the table. He takes a bite from his toast as she takes her first mouthful of coffee.

"Honey comes from bees," he says, simply, glancing up at them before returning to his breakfast.

"It does, you're right." She smiles at him as he chews, a slight frown on his little face. "You're very smart, Ned."

"Yep." He nods and she laughs softly at his instant agreement. "But...how do they make the honey?"

"Well," she says, pausing as Will's hand moves to her arm and his fingers brush softly across her skin. "Did you know bees have big, long tongues?"

"They do?" His eyes widen as he waits for her to continue.

"They do." She nods and smiles at him. "And they use them to scoop something out of the flowers, something called nectar which is what they use to make the honey. You know you have one tummy where all your food goes?"

"Where my toast is going." He grins.

"That's right. But bees have two tummies. One for food and a special one just for nectar, to carry it back to the other bees." Will's hand moves back up her arm, the backs of his fingers stroking gently, giving her brief pause. "What so you think happens when they get back?"

"I don't know." He puts his toast down and leans closer as she carries on.

"This part sounds a little bit icky, but it's very clever," she says, watching him as he nods enthusiastically. "The first bee passes the nectar to his friend, and his friend chews it, just like you're chewing your toast. When he's finished chewing, he passes it another bee and that bee chews it some more."

"And then is it honey?" he asks, watching as she nods. "How does it get in the jars?"

"People called beekeepers, who look after the hives where the bees live, come to collect it to put it in the jars." She points at his remaining piece of toast and smiles. "And the bees work so hard to make the honey, you should make sure you finish that toast."

She picks up her coffee and Will's hand grasps hers on the table as she turns to look at him. His expression is hard to read and he gazes at her as he squeezes her fingers, and she tilts her head, silently questioning whether he's okay, her frown seeming to snap him out of whatever thought he was lost in.

"Is there anything you don't know?" he asks, smiling softly at her.

"Hmm..." She narrows her eyes and leans closer, her shoulder nudging his. "No, I think I pretty much know everything."

He pulls his hand from hers without warning and as she looks up to see Nancy in the doorway, she feels herself blushing, followed rapidly by a surge of embarrassment that she knows is ridiculous.

"Morning everyone." Nancy walks over to the table and ruffles Ned's hair before leaning down to drop a kiss to the top of his head.

"I had breakfast, Grandma." He grins up at her and she smiles back at him. "Toast!"

"I hope you didn't wake up Will and Mackenzie, Ned?" Nancy looks down at him as he shakes his head.

"No, they were awake," he says firmly. "I promise." 

"It's true," Will says, grinning at Ned.

"Yep." Ned nods. "It is true. They were in the kitchen already, doing kisses."

"Oh God." Will murmurs, half under his breath, shrugging as Nancy's eyes widen and she smirks. "Also true."

"Ned, did you show Will your new t-shirt?" Nancy asks her grandson, who pushes his chair back and climbs down. "Maybe you could show him, and he could help you pick out some shorts to wear with it today. You can show him where all of your things are, right?"

"Come on, Will." Ned stands next to Will's chair and pulls on his arm. "My new shirt is so awesome!"

"Alright then, buddy, I guess I really should see it." He slides his hand under the table and squeezes her thigh before standing up. "Um, Ned wants to show me his new shirt."

"I heard." She covers his hand and smiles at him. "I'm sitting right here."

As he follows an excited Ned out of the kitchen, she sees his obvious discomfort and indecision about how open he should be, kicking herself slightly that they didn't talk about this. She determines to find a minute as soon as possible to let him know that they should just be upfront and try to relax, this is Charlie and Nancy, they're going to be nothing but delighted for them. She watches the two of them, Ned tugging on Will's hand as they reach the kitchen door, Ned looking so tiny beside Will, and the sight brings an unexpected lump to her throat. She swallows it down and smiles as Nancy brings the rest of the coffee over to her and sits down.

"I hope you don't think we were doing anything...you know." She reaches for her coffee, more for something to hold onto than to actually drink. "When Ned walked in, I mean, we were just-"

"Doing kisses," Nancy says with a smile.

"Busted." She shrugs, embarrassed but managing to smile back.

"You can always count on little ones to say exactly what you hope they won't," Nancy says, pulling her own mug towards her and adding a splash of milk to her coffee. "Useful to remember, for future reference."

"So, if it isn't blatantly obvious already, I talked to him last night, and..." She pauses, thinking about how long ago that conversation feels and how different everything is this morning. "Turns out he doesn't hate me."

"Funny, I got that impression too." Nancy's smile grows wider as she continues. "Without Ned's input, it may have taken me a little longer, but not much. There's a definite air of something... _happy_ in here this morning."

"Thanks for last night," she says, grateful for Nancy's presence this weekend, her quiet support. "For giving me the push I needed. I feel like if we'd gone home, we might never have worked things out, or not yet anyway. God, it could have dragged on for who knows how much longer, we might even have killed each other before we managed to get back together."

"It wouldn't have come to that. Nobody dies on my watch," Nancy says, taking a sip of coffee before her gaze lands on Ned's empty plate. "Thanks for fixing Ned's breakfast, by the way. That boy is ruled by his stomach, when he's hungry he knows it, and he has to get fed no matter what."

"Well, I think he got a little more than he bargained for when he wandered in here hoping for breakfast." She smiles at Nancy, shrugging slightly.

"He got his toast in the end, that's all he cares about." Pausing for a second, Nancy frowns. "Did you eat yet?"

"No, just coffee," she says, shaking her head. "I'm fine though, I'm not-"

"Stop right there." Nancy stands up and picks up the empty coffee pot, smiling at her. "I'm going to make pancakes. I have a feeling you probably have an appetite this morning, and I know Will never refuses pancakes. It might even get Beau out of bed too, it's certainly worth a try."

She nods her thanks, blushing faintly at Nancy's comment about her appetite, but taking it as a subtle approval for what she was so worried about doing under the Skinners' roof the night before...and again earlier this morning, and in the shower. Standing up, she brings Ned's plate and the coffee mug into the kitchen, putting them down on the counter as Will and Ned come back through the doors, Ned in the new t-shirt he was so excited about, paired with blue shorts.

"I'm making pancakes, Ned." Nancy turns to the little boy and smiles at him. "Would you like to help?"

"Pancakes, Grandma, yes, I love them!" He jumps up and down excitedly and grins at them. "Do you love pancakes too?"

"I really love them." Will smiles back at him, sliding his arm around her waist, tentatively at first but relaxing when she leans into him.

"Can we help with anything?" she asks, watching Ned move next to Nancy, wooden spoon already in hand.

"No, I think this young man and I have it under control." Nancy turns and smiles. "It looks pretty nice out already, if you wanted to get a little air."

"Sounds good," Will says, making her squirm slightly as his fingers move just inside the waistband of her shorts.

She pulls his hand back and glares at him, in mock outrage, negated slightly by the smirk threatening her lips. His hand still in hers, she pulls him towards the doors and steps out onto the porch, closing the door behind them and moving them towards the steps. Sitting down on the top step, he sits down next to her and she leans her head against his shoulder, her hand still firmly in his as they sit quietly for a few minutes. It's quiet out and Nancy was right, it is warm already but there's still a hint of the morning breeze and it feels good against her bare legs.

"I'd love a place out here." She leans closer into him, smiling as his fingers weave tighter through hers.

"You would?" He sounds surprised and she isn't sure why, other than he knows she's a committed city girl.

"I'd never want to leave the city, I don't think, but there's a real appeal to having somewhere to escape to when we want some quiet, some sea air, you know." She shrugs, pauses as she looks out at the view from the porch. "We wouldn't need a place this size, obviously, just somewhere with a couple of bedrooms and a nice outside space like this."

"Worth looking at a something with a couple of bedrooms though, right?" he asks, thinking practically, she assumes, about values and resale. At least that's the reason she's going to attribute his question to, for now. "You have a bunch of sisters who I suspect would be more than happy with a beachside place to hit up every summer."

"You have a point," she says, thinking about how she's going to need to call Harriet tomorrow, and her mother, and...yeah, she really does have quite the handful of sisters. "Anyway, I was just thinking aloud really, it wasn't your cue to go and find the first house for sale and show up in my office with the keys by the end of the week."

She has the feeling he's about to insist he wouldn't dream of doing anything of the sort, but he's stopped by the sound of Charlie's voice behind them.

"So, Nancy thrust a coffee cup into my hands and told me to get out of her way, get some air..."

She hears the door close behind him and waits for what she knows will be his inevitable reaction, saving her the trouble of telling Will it's fine if they all know. "And I...what the-"

"I think she has enough help from Ned without you getting under her feet," Will says without turning around, grinning as she looks up at him.

"Am I fucking hallucinating right now?!" Charlie's voice gets louder and she turns on the step, biting back a laugh at his bemused expression.

"Well, I really have no way of knowing what you’re seeing…” she says, standing up and pulling Will up with her, smiling at Charlie as he looks at her, then at Will, and back at her again. “But I don’t think so.”

Charlie puts his mug down and watches as they walk from the steps back to towards the table, Will’s hand still in hers, her smile growing wider as she sees realisation dawning on his face in the form of a slow grin.

“Well, holy mother of fucking Christ, it’s about damn time!” He grabs her and hugs her, holding tight for a few seconds before pulling back and kissing her firmly on the forehead before turning to Will, clapping him hard on the back. “And you, William Duncan McAvoy…do not fuck this up.”

“No danger of that,” Will says quickly, looking right at Charlie until he nods and smiles.

“Wait,” he says, narrowing his eyes as he reaches for his mug again. “Is this why I was dragged inside last night?”

“Yes.” She shrugs and feels Will turn to her, his eyes and Charlie’s on her, curious. “What? I talked to Nancy, she gave me some advice and I took it.”

“Your wife,” Will says to Charlie as he slides his hand back into hers. “Is wonderful.”

“She really is,” Nancy’s voice startles them as she stands in the open doorway, a smile on her face, Ned grinning beside her. “Pancakes are ready.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Standing up, she walks back and sits beside Charlie, reaching for her water bottle, smiling as he catches her eye. To say she's glad he invited her this weekend would be a huge understatement, she genuinely doesn't know how long she and Will would have carried on burying their feelings, doing everything except speak them aloud._

Just like on Saturday, she's sitting on the side of the pool when Will comes and sits down beside her, but this time she doesn't flinch or feel awkward, and she doesn't struggle to look into his eyes, she looks right at him and smiles. He holds up a bottle of sunscreen and she turns slightly, enough that he can reach her back, and she pushes her hair off her neck, holding it out of his way.

"Good timing," she says as she feels a drop of lotion land on her shoulder and his fingers start to rub it slowly into her skin. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh yeah?" His fingers don't stop moving as she feels him shift closer to her.

"Mmm, I was thinking." She lifts her legs out of the water and turns further, giving him full access to her bare skin, leaning into him slightly as he moves his fingers higher up her back. "If we head back this evening, like we were planning to, we're going to miss the fireworks."

"Yeah." He nods. "Charlie was asking earlier, actually, if we were going to stay tonight."

"I do love fireworks," she says, turning to him and taking the sunscreen from his hand to set it down on the ground.

"I know you do," he says, running his hand down her leg as he looks at her. "What do you think?"

"We could go in the morning, but the traffic is going to be awful." She pauses, frowning slightly before going on. "I guess we could skip the first rundown. If I can get Jim to cover it then he can email what he has afterwards, and we can look it over in the car."

"That'd work." He smiles and she thinks how nice it would be to have another night here, to wake up next to him, one more morning in their beach house bubble, and she really does love fireworks, always has.

"Okay." She nods, knowing she's going to have to drag him out of bed tomorrow to get back on the road, and thinking about whichever poor ACN driver is going to need to be on the way to Montauk really early tomorrow.

“So we’ll stay?” he asks, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles as she smiles at him.

“We'll stay. I'll send Jim a message, see if it’s okay to give him a call,” she says, sliding closer to him, looking over at where Charlie is chatting to Beau, and Nancy is playing some sort of card game with Ned. “You’re sure Charlie’s happy for us to leave in the morning? I wouldn’t want to outstay our welcome.”

“It’s Charlie.” He shrugs and smiles at her, leaning in to kiss her quickly. “I don’t think if we stayed the whole damn summer we’d be outstaying our welcome.”

“Imagine the whole summer here.” She sighs, feeling the sun on her back and seeing how relaxed Will looks, briefly considering the possibility of living a beach life with him. Permanently in shorts, the constant scent of salt and sunscreen, always warm...

“You’d last another couple of days and then you’d be climbing the walls,” he says, smiling again. “I know you.”

“I’m not that bad at relaxing. I once took a whole week off for Christmas, I'll have you know.” She prods his arm with a mock glare. “I’ve even managed relaxation with you a few times, Billy. Have you completely forgotten the week we spent in Mexico? I barely looked at my phone once.”

“Mackenzie, I will never forget that week as long as I fucking live,” he says, lowering his voice as he looks into her eyes.

They're interrupted by Ned's arrival, who seems to have a real knack for appearing without warning, this time wearing water wings and grinning hopefully at the two of them.

"You want to swim, buddy?" Will asks, sliding off the side of the pool into the water and stepping back. "Go ahead, jump, I've got you."

"Go on, sweetpea." She smiles at him as he steps closer to her and puts his hand on her shoulder, looking nervously at her. "Will's right there, and you have your wings, it'll be fun. Why don't we see how big a splash you can make?"

"I can make a real big splash," he says, his grin reappearing as he lets go of her shoulder and jumps in, giggling as Will catches him, and turning to her. "Did you see?!"

"I did, you were really great, Ned." He's adorable and she can tell Will thinks so too, as she watches him swim across the pool, the little boy in tow.

Standing up, she walks back and sits beside Charlie, reaching for her water bottle, smiling as he catches her eye. To say she's glad he invited her this weekend would be a huge understatement, she genuinely doesn't know how long she and Will would have carried on burying their feelings, doing everything except speak them aloud. Would it have come to a crashing head eventually and ended well, or would it have imploded and ended with her throwing in the towel entirely? She really can't say.

"Did Will suggest staying until tomorrow?" Charlie's voice breaks into her thoughts and she turns to him.

"Actually I sort of suggested it to him, and he said you'd already mentioned it," she says, smiling at him. "If you're sure it's okay, we'd love to."

"Of course it's okay." He waves a hand and grins at her before nodding in the direction of the pool. "I hope you realise that little guy's going to be halfway into the car with you tomorrow. He already follows Will around like a little shadow and he's taken quite the shine to you too this weekend."

She smiles and looks over to where Ned is now half on Will's back, half in the pool, and it seems Will is having just as good a time as his four year old buddy, if Ned's giggles and Will's grin are anything to go on.

"He really is a sweetheart, Charlie," she says as she turns back to him. "I don't have many friends with kids, and I don't really see the ones who do very often. I'd forgotten how much fun little ones are to be around, this weekend has been really nice."

"In more ways than one," he says with a comical waggle of his eyebrows.

"Well, yeah." She nods, feeling silly at her sudden embarrassment as she thinks about what she and Will did last night under Charlie's roof, feeling like a naughty teenager.

"You should come out here again before the summer's over." He pauses, reaching for a towel for Ned as he sees Will lifting him out of the pool, wrapping it around his shoulders briefly when he comes to stand in front of him. "I was just saying to Mac that you two should try and get out here again this summer, if you can."

"Actually..." Will sits down and rests a hand on her knee, looking questioningly at her and smiling as she nods. "We were going to ask what you were all doing for Labor Day weekend."

"Good plan!" Charlie grins. "You should come out here then, we could-"

"We actually planned something already for that weekend," he says, and she can't stop a smile from spreading across her face as she waits for Charlie's reaction. "We talked this morning and, well, we're going to get married that weekend."

"You're...hang on, what?!" Charlie turns to Nancy, applying fresh sunscreen to a now dry Ned. "You hear this?"

"What's that?" She looks up and smiles, Beau looks up too from the book he's reading. 

"Tell them, Will," Charlie says, excitement running through his tone.

"Labor Day weekend." His thumb runs casually across her knee and she leans against him. "Mac and I are getting married."

"My goodness!" Nancy's eyebrows raise and there is no missing the smirk Beau gives Will. "This is all...well, I don't know what...congratulations, it's wonderful news, I really couldn't be happier for you. Labor Day weekend isn't all that far away though, have you thought about the details? Where, for a start?"

"God, we really haven't, have we?" Turning to him, Nancy's words sink in that of course people book venues way in advance and there probably isn't a single decent place available at such relatively short notice. "Maybe we didn't think this through entirely well."

"You're the one who hurled August 1st at me," he says, grinning at her. "You're lucky I persuaded you to push it back a month, but yeah, I guess we didn't really-"

"Do it here." Nancy stops him, a huge smile on her face, and Charlie is nodding enthusiastically. "Get married here, we'd love to have you, and if people are happy to double up a little then there's enough space for friends and family, and no doubt half of ACN-"

"I have three sisters, a brother and a sister-in-law, Will has a brother, two sisters, three in-laws and a bunch of nieces and nephews," she says, thinking again about how she's going to need to call everyone tomorrow with all of this news.

"Ah, okay." Nancy pauses, thinking for a second. "Well, there's enough space here for some doubling up, and if we move quickly I'm sure we can figure out hotels close by for everyone else."

"You know, you really should step in now if you're going to say no," Charlie says, smiling at her and then at Nancy. "I can hear the wheels turning in my wife's head. Five more minutes and the whole thing will be set in stone."

"God, it sounds perfect, really, doesn't it, Billy?" She turns to Will, biting her lip, releasing it slowly as he nods and smiles.

"Honey, I'd marry you at Starbucks if necessary," he says, shrugging. "But yeah, getting married here sounds pretty good to me."

"We're not getting married at Starbucks, I'm drawing that line right now." She nudges him and turns back to Charlie and Nancy. "You're sure?"

"Completely. I'm looking forward to it already," Nancy says with a grin. "And I think mister here would like to think he had a hand in you two finally getting to this point-"

"A hand?" Charlie laughs. "Please, without me, Mac would be on a show where people cooking lunch was the highlight and Will would be on a show where people would be wishing there was such a thing happening. You know, to break from the horror of showbiz news and crazy weather- "

"Alright, we get it," Nancy stops him, patting his arm as he grins at the two of them. "So, that's all settled then. You're getting married here."

"Yes, wow, all settled," she says, grabbing Will's hand and squeezing hard, struggling to believe they basically just planned their wedding. "We're getting married here."

*

"You stayed in the city for the weekend, right?" she asks, sitting down on the bed and scooting back to rest against the headboard.

"Yeah," Jim says, pausing for a second. "I'm totally fine with you calling me on the holiday, or you know, whenever, you know that, but I wasn't really expecting it...is everything okay, Mac?"

"Everything's fine, really. Great, actually." She smiles as Will walks into the room and kicks off his shoes before climbing up on the bed next to her. "I just wanted to ask a favour, if I could?"

"Sure." Jim answers instantly, no hesitation. "What can I do?"

"I was hoping you could cover the first rundown tomorrow," she says, squirming slightly as Will starts to run the backs of his fingers slowly down her thigh. "I was going to head back down to the city today, but I'm actually going to stay tonight and leave early in the morning."

"Not too damn early," Will murmurs beside her, earning him a prod to keep quiet.

"Oh, right," Jim says, and she knows he's confused. Workaholic Mackenzie choosing relaxation over the office, he probably thinks she's been kidnapped and is making this call with a gun to her head. "I mean, yeah, I can totally cover it, no problem."

"Thanks, Jim." She sucks in a breath as Will's fingers slide across the inside of her upper thigh, covering his hand with her own but not pushing it away. "If you could email me whatever you have after the meeting, that'd be great and I can take a look at it in the car. I should be there not long after that, depending on traffic."

"Okay, sure, I..." There's hesitation in Jim's voice but she waits and he carries on. "Could you maybe let Will know I'll be covering the meeting so he doesn't start hurling mugs when he sees me and not you?"

"I don't think he'd start hurling mugs, Jim. Pens, maybe." She snorts as Will lets out a sound of righteous indignation on the bed next to her. "Anyway, Will's not going to make the meeting either, we'll be heading back together."

"Right, sure, yeah," Jim says quickly, then blurting out his next words. "Wait, did you just say you're back together?"

"I said we'll be heading back together," she says, pausing as Will's fingers start to move again, tracing gently over her thigh. "But actually, now you've mentioned it..."

"Hey Jim." Will says as he leans towards her, his mouth almost touching hers as he gets closer to the phone.

"Oh, hey Will." Jim sounds stunned and Will grins, falling back against the pillow next to her. "Wow, Mac, I had no idea that you two were...I mean, it's not like I should have had any idea, obviously, it's not my business, I just...okay, um, I'll cover in the morning and email you the rundown list."

"Thanks, that's great, Jim." She can't help smiling at his obvious awkwardness, his words tumbling out in a way that makes it so easy to picture the panicked expression on his face. "Have a good evening."

"Thanks, you too, see you tomorrow." Ending the call, she turns to Will and smiles.

"You're so bad," she says, shaking her head as she lets his hand roam far higher up her thigh than she had when she was on the phone. "All 'hey Jim', like this is totally the norm."

"I didn't say a thing until you'd already told him we were back together." He rests his hand just under the hem of her shorts and moves his other hand to gently cup her face. "I think we're even."

"Mmm, maybe so." She sighs as his thumb dances lightly across her cheekbone, closing her eyes as he kisses her. His lips move slowly over hers, and his fingers slide further inside her shorts as she opens her mouth a little wider and runs her tongue across his bottom lip, grinning at the look on his face when she pulls back. "Do you think anyone would miss us if we took a little...nap?"

"I think an afternoon nap before holiday fireworks is totally acceptable," he says, smiling at her as he covers her mouth with his again, pulling his hand from her shorts and sliding it into her hair. She moans and her hands find their way around the back of his neck, her nails scratching lightly across his skin. He pushes her back against the pillow and she's just about to stop him to ask if the door is locked when she hears it swing open and realises it wasn't even closed.

"Why are you guys always doing kisses?" Ned's voice comes from the doorway and when she pushes Will hastily away and looks up, she has to choke down a laugh at the sight of the little boy, hands on hips and looking quite affronted.

"Well," Will says, his breathing heavier than usual, not that Ned will notice, thankfully. "When you find someone you really, really love, you'll want to kiss them too, buddy."

"I'll never do that." Ned wrinkles his nose in pure disgust. "I really won't."

"When you're bigger, you might change your mind," Will says, smiling at him. "Did your grandpa send you to come find us?"

"We're going for a walk on the beach and we want you to come too," Ned says firmly. "We're going to look for shells and I'm going to build a real big sandcastle, and you have to help."

"We do?" Will asks, squeezing her hand as she starts to shift off the bed.

"Yep." Ned nods and turns to leave the room, stopping before her does. "I think you should come down in two minutes, okay?"

"Alright then," she says, sliding her fingers from his and moving to the edge of the bed. "We'll be right there."

"We were going to nap," he says as Ned disappears back into the hallway, his voice taking on just a hint of a whine.

"We both know napping is not what we were going to do." She stands up and walks to the end of the bed, waiting for him to do the same. "And what we were going to do, we can do tonight. More than once if you're up to it."

"Always," he says quickly, grinning at her and taking her hand, glancing at the doorway before leaning down to give her a soft kiss. "I guess I can skip an afternoon nap with the promise of that later on, right?"

"Oh, I think so." She tugs on his hand, pulling him towards the door. "Come on, let's go and build sandcastles."


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _"You always did have a thing for my freckles, Billy." Deftly, she tries to move the subject along, she doesn't want to have this conversation now, so she smirks at him. "I don't know what you're going to do in the winter months when I have hardly any at all."_

Smiling, she watches as he scoops up a sleeping Ned, arms strong yet gentle as he settles the little boy against his chest. Ned had tried so hard to stay awake, had insisted he wasn't tired and that he was going to be awake long after the fireworks were over, but his head had come to rest against Beau's arm way before then, his older brother shifting to make him more comfortable. He's so sweet with him, protective and patient, perhaps it's the age gap, she knows she was more patient with her youngest sister than with her other two...or maybe it's a brotherly thing, she really doesn't know. Following Will and Beau, with Charlie and Nancy alongside her, she briefly wonders what it would be like to have boys, to buy little shirts and shorts, tiny vests for special occasions, and then she stops herself, shuts it down before she starts to believe it could be a possibility.

Beau opens the door and Will carries Ned through, pausing and turning to Charlie. "Does he need pyjamas? How do you even change a kid who's sound asleep?"

"He's fine in what he's wearing." Charlie smiles, watching as he nods and moves with Ned into the hallway.

"I'll give you a hand," she says, stepping ahead of him and starting up the stairs.

Walking into Ned's room, she pulls back the sheet on his bed and walks over to pull the blinds closed as Will flicks on the light. When she turns back, she has to stifle a laugh as she moves back to the bed and smiles at Will before leaning down to where he has just put Ned down.

"I don't think Charlie meant his shoes should stay on too." She watches his sheepish smile before she gently slides the little boy's shoes from his feet and puts them just under the bed.

"Right." He nods and pulls the sheet over Ned, pausing before pulling it back again and looking at her with a frown. "Does he even need this? Will he wake up freezing at three in the morning without it?"

"Will, he's not a baby." She smiles at his concern. "If he wakes up cold, he'll manage to pull the sheet over himself before he freezes to death."

"Okay..." His hand still hovering above the sheet, he sighs. "So he _doesn't_ need it?"

She reaches down and rests the back of her hand softly on Ned's cheek, his skin warm but not hot or clammy. Looking up at Will, she shakes her head and gives him a reassuring smile. "He's fine."

He pulls his hand back and drops the sheet to rest loosely across Ned's legs before turning from the bed and moving towards the door. Following him she reaches for the light switch, stopping when his hand pulls her fingers away from the wall, his own tangling with hers as she glances at him, curious. His finger runs slowly, deliberately, down her nose and she chokes back a laugh, conscious of Ned sound asleep right behind them.

"Freckles," he says quietly, with a smile, his eyes crinkling as he looks at her. "Genetic, right? Hereditary?"

"My dad has freckles, my mum not a single one," she says, pausing. "That doesn't answer your question...I think sometimes they can be, maybe? Science really isn't my strong point, but something to do with the MC1R gene, I think, I'm not sure."

"Yeah, that sounds familiar." He nods and his hand slides across her shoulder, his thumb rubbing small circles over her skin. "I guess I was just wondering if any kids of ours would get your freckles."

"You always did have a thing for my freckles, Billy." Deftly, she tries to move the subject along, she doesn't want to have this conversation now, so she smirks at him. "I don't know what you're going to do in the winter months when I have hardly any at all."

"Maybe I'll take you somewhere warm so you can freckle up all year round." He pulls slightly on her hand, moving them towards the door as he takes a final look at Ned before flicking off the light.

"We could migrate south for the winter, like geese," she says as they head down the hallway towards the stairs, smiling even though he can't see her in the dim light. "Do geese migrate? Swallows, maybe? Doesn't matter, you know what I'm getting at."

"I do." He stops as they reach the top of the stairs, pushing her back against the wall, cupping her face and kissing her, almost in one smooth move. "Just needed to do that before we go downstairs and play at being restrained adults."

"Speak for yourself, I am absolutely a restrained adult." She pauses, leaning in for another kiss before squeezing his hand and leaning up to breathe in his ear. "Doesn't mean I won't ravish the holy hell out of you later tonight."

*

It’s hardly the world’s greatest surprise that the succession of Long Island Iced Teas that Charlie is plying them with are stronger than she’s had in a while, possibly ever. There was a time not so many months ago when she would have been matching Charlie drink for drink but she's made a concerted effort to cut down lately, aware that it more often than not leads to her crying, sometimes to Sloan or to one of her sisters, but mostly alone. On particularly bad days, she was finding herself yearning to bury herself in the bottom of a bottle, and it was starting to scare her just a little, so much so that she doesn't drink at home anymore, or not alone at least. It had begun to remind her of the long, dark months following her return from the Middle East, how she would justify it with time differences and unemployment and pass it off as a few drinks here and there.  
Only with hindsight could she see that she didn't make it through a single day without a drink for three months. Even the phone call to her father that ended with him suggesting he might "perhaps call back when you're a little more sober, darling" wasn't enough to get through to her; nothing or nobody did until Charlie.

There's a smell in the air from the fireworks earlier, without even a hint of a breeze to shift it, and she loves it, she's always loved fireworks, even as a little girl when she remembers the other children cowering from the noise. She's on the couch next to Will, with Charlie and Nancy on the chairs opposite, and she smiles as she takes the glass Charlie offers her, sipping from it before setting it down on the table. Will's arm slides around her shoulder and pulls her closer until she's nestled against him, her head leaning back against his chest as her hand rests on his thigh. He drops a kiss into her hair and Charlie smiles across at them.

"You know, way back I thought you might be a figment of his imagination," Charlie says, grinning at her before nodding towards Will.

"What do you mean?" she asks, feeling his fingers running slowly down her upper arm.

"All I ever got was 'soon, Charlie, I promise you'll meet her soon'." Charlie shakes his head and pauses to take a sip of his drink. "I'm not sure five years later counts as soon!"

"Well, I was _very_ young and incredibly hot." She grins across at Charlie. "He was probably worried you'd think I was only after him for his money and the promise of fame."

"Must have been it," Charlie says with another pointed smirk at Will before he smiles at her again. "I guess it doesn't matter now. You're here, he finally came to his senses, you're where you're meant to be. Hell, let's drink to that."

"I think maybe we've had enough for tonight," Nancy says, raising an eyebrow as Charlie reaches for the pitcher on the table. "And by we, I do of course mean you."

"Spoils all my fun, this one," Charlie says, but there's such love in his eyes when he looks at Nancy that it's clear he knows she's right.

"Oh shush, you do fine for fun." Nancy pats him on the leg and stands up. "Come on, let's go peek in on Ned and go to bed. Goodnight, you two. You're not leaving too early in the morning, are you?"

"Car's picking us up at ten," Will says, smiling up at them.

"Perfect." Nancy nods. "Plenty of time for breakfast before you leave."

"Some of us were smart enough to take the day off tomorrow," Charlie says with a grin as he follows his wife towards the door. "Goodnight."

"That was pretty smart," Will says as Charlie and Nancy head back into the house, closing the porch door behind them.

"We weren't even supposed to still be here tonight, let alone taking tomorrow off," she says, sighing slightly as he pushes her hair behind her ear and his fingers lightly tickle her skin. "Hell, I didn't know if I'd make it _this_ far, I half expected to be running for a train at some point during the weekend once you'd made it clear you didn't want me here."

She leans forward to drink the final mouthful from her glass and then stands up, turning and climbing into his lap, her thighs straddling his, her knees pushed into the back of the couch, steadying herself with a hand on his shoulder, realising again how strong Charlie mixes a cocktail. His hands come to rest on her legs, moving up her thighs, reminding her that she decided to wear a dress tonight, not shorts, a decision he seems to approve of right at this moment.

"I want you here," he murmurs, his eyes fixed firmly on hers as she settles her hands on his shoulders.

"I didn't know that at the start of the weekend though." Her thumb smooths across the skin on the side of his neck, her other hand sliding down to rest flat against his chest as she pauses. "What did you say to Beau?"

"Hmm?" His hands keep moving under her dress, and she sighs at the slight roughness of his fingertips against her thighs. "When?"

"Oh, well, I may have overheard you talking, and there's a chance that I may not have made myself scarce quite as quickly as I should have done." She smirks at him and swipes her thumb slowly across his lips, watching his eyebrows raise.

"Eavesdropping, Mac?" His smirk matches hers and she shrugs.

"Gathering evidence," she says, leaning forward slightly to kiss him, letting a small moan escape into his mouth when his fingers start to move higher up her thigh.

"So, if you were listening in, why are you asking what I said?" His hands shift under her legs to pull her even closer to him, her knees pushing deeper into the cushion behind him.

"I got as far as Beau telling you to marry me...smart kid," she says, smiling. "But then when he asked if you loved me, I kind of...well, I ran."

"You ran?" he asks, clearly amused. "You stood and listened for however long, and when he asked the most important question, you ran?"

"I didn't want to..." She takes a breath, feeling silly about her insecurity upon reflection as she goes on. "I didn't want to hear you tell him that you'd loved me once but that now I'm just the massive bitch who broke your heart and who you could never love again, so I ran. Right into Charlie, as it happened, as if I didn't already feel stupid enough."

"If you had stuck around, what you would have heard me say was that yeah, I loved you, you're the only woman I've ever loved, but that sometimes things don't quite work out the way you want them to." He looks embarrassed and she can't help smiling at how two intelligent, articulate people could have gone on for so long with their wires so tightly crossed.

"That's true...but sometimes they do." She nods and rests her hands on his face, her thumbs moving slowly across his cheeks, still reacquainting herself with the feel of his skin under her fingers. "I bet you didn't think that a couple of days after that conversation we'd actually be engaged, did you? I mean, assuming our slightly bizarre 'let's get married on Labor Day weekend' conversation constitutes an actual engagement-"

"It does." He pulls his hands rapidly from under her dress and takes hold of hers, kissing her fingers, almost frantically, his eyes darting up to meet hers, his gaze intense. "It really wasn't the greatest proposal, was it?"

"Well, I've never been proposed to before, so I'm not fully acquainted with the rule book." She smiles at him, thinking about how she actually loves that it came so easily, that they both just knew instantly they wanted to get married and that was that. "But I'm not complaining, I don't need you to ask, I like that you just knew I'd marry you without having to make a song and dance about it."

"Alright, but just know that in about..." He pauses, lifting their joined hands to look quickly at his watch. "Twelve hours, I'm going to put a ring on your finger and I promise you never have to question anything again."

Pulling her hand slowly from his, she moves it once again to his face, the tips of her fingers slipping into his hair as she leans forward to kiss him, smiling against his mouth as she feels his arms move tighter around her.

"If you had made a song and dance about it..." She pulls back and runs her hand down his arm and grasps his fingers again. "What do you think you might have said?"

"Well, I like to think I'd have said 'I love you, Mackenzie, I'm _in_ love with you. I've been an idiot and I don't want to be without you for another minute, will you marry me?'" he says, pausing as he watches for her reaction. "But God knows how it might have actually come out."

"Wait, you didn't avoid asking me because you thought I might say no, did you?" she asks, watching as he glances away for the briefest of seconds before looking back at her, a trace of a smile on his lips.

"I hadn't thought that until you just said it." He raises an eyebrow and she laughs.

"Listen to me, Billy. If that _is_ what it was, you're crazy, I'd have said yes if you'd asked five years ago, six months ago, whenever. It was always going to be yes." She feels his fingers tangle further within hers and feels a contented sigh escape her lips. "You know what? I've changed my mind...not on the yes, the yes still stands, but I do want you to ask."

"You do, huh?" He smiles back and takes a deep breath. "Alright, here we go...I love you, Mackenzie McHale, I always have and I always will. I've been an idiot, and I don't want to spend another minute without you, I'm kind of an ass without you, I think. Anyway, yeah, I love you and will you marry me?"

"Yes, I will. I'll marry you." She giggles, the whole situation suddenly amusing her, and then she remembers the ring in his drawer, the huge Tiffany diamond he taunted her with only a few short months ago. "The ring. Tell me if you still have it it isn't sitting in your drawer. You moved it somewhere secure, right? A safe, or-"

"I still have it, and it'll be on your finger tomorrow so where it's been until now doesn't matter," he says, confirming that yes, the biggest diamond she has ever seen has indeed been locked in his desk drawer.

"Of course, you're making the assumption that it's going to fit," she says, biting her lip as she thinks about him finally sliding a ring on her finger in just a few hours, after so long.

"It's not an assumption, honey, it'll fit." He shakes his head quickly and she smiles at the certainty in his tone. "Now...come here."

"I'm already here," she murmurs as he pulls her closer and slides his hands up her back onto her shoulder blades.

Flicking his finger under the strap of her dress, he pushes it down her shoulder and runs his thumb across her skin. He pauses at the freckle he always used to say looked like a smudge of chocolate, dipping his head and moving his lips over it, his tongue warm and wet against her...so many memories associated with one single freckle. His teeth scrape lightly across her shoulder and she pushes her fingers into his hair, unable to hold back a moan when his fingers move to slowly stroke the nape of her neck.

"Do you want to go upstairs?" He lifts his head to look at her, his fingers still moving gently down the back of her neck and his eyes widening just a fraction when she shakes her head.

"Not just yet. It's nice out here," she says quietly, rocking against him slightly and biting her lip as his breath catches. "And everybody's rooms are around the other side, so if we started something..."

"Al fresco? And from the woman who was reluctant to do _anything_ under Charlie's roof at all not so long ago. How far we've come." He smirks and his hand comes from the back of her neck to the side and she feels her pulse pounding hard under his thumb. "How the hell many of those cocktails did you have?"

"Same as you, I guess." She shrugs and he lets out a laugh, silenced when she shifts her hips, pushing herself firmly against him, her dress hitched up high enough that only her underwear and his shorts lie between them. "Although you're bigger than me, so maybe I should have stopped a couple of glasses before you did..."

"Too late now." His voice drops lower and she tilts her head as his hand gently cups her cheek.

She fixes her eyes on his and runs her tongue slowly across her top lip, watching as he tries to keep his breathing steady as his thumb moves to her mouth. Leaning forward, she kisses him, softly at first, nipping at his bottom lip, sliding her tongue against his, feeling his breath mingling with hers. He's the only one who has ever kissed her like nothing else mattered, like she was the only thing he needed, and even though she's in his lap and pretty sure where this is heading, he's also the only one who ever kissed her for kissing's sake, not purely as a means to an end. She remembers their third date, she invited him over, certain she was going to sleep with him, making it clear that as well as the dinner she was cooking for him, he should expect breakfast too. They had ended up on her couch and he had kissed her for what felt like hours, tiny, gentle kisses morphing into deeper, hungrier touches as he savoured the taste of her. Eventually she had been the one to stand up, take his hand and drag him to the bedroom for more.

She isn't dragging him anywhere now though, she's totally content where she is, pressed up against him, her hands in his hair, his fingers caressing her face, their lips on each other's. It hits her out of the blue that they get to do this whenever they want to now, that if she wants to spend every free minute just kissing him then she can. She feels herself smile against his mouth, a giggle bursting out as he pulls back and looks quizzically at her.

"I just realised something," she says, her gaze shifting briefly to his lips. "I can kiss you whenever I like now. Any minute of any day."

"Yeah, you can," he says, a grin on his face. "So if you go quiet in my ear, it's because you're on your way into the studio to kiss the hell out of me?"

"I think between eight and nine may have to be the exception to my any minute of any day rule." She smiles and her thumbs move to rest against his mouth, her smile growing wider when he purses his lips to kiss them. "If I do go quiet in your ear, there's a good chance I'm thinking about kissing you though, planning it for after the show, if that'll do anything for you."

"It'll get me through Sloan's five minutes, that's what it'll do." He smirks at her and she shakes her head.

"Dammit Billy, I rely on you to pay attention to Sloan's segment," she says. "If you're not listening, how the hell am I supposed to know what the hell she's talking about?"

"Do you need to know what she's talking about?" he asks with a shrug. "Can't you just assume it's money, stock exchange, economy, money, stock exchange, economy, rinse, repeat...?"

"Oh, I do. I glaze over and assume exactly that." She admits it, she has no real clue what Sloan's talking about in around three out of every four of her segments, but she nods convincingly, safe in the knowledge that Sloan knows her stuff.

"Well, nobody would ever know." His hand moves across her collarbone and she shivers under his touch, her soft moan sounding louder against the silence of the night. "You talk a good game."

"I've had plenty of practice." She slides her arms around him and pushes herself towards him, her lips on the side of his neck, her sighs muffled against his skin as his hands slip under the back of her dress.

"It's paying off." His voice is low and it rumbles down her spine, pulling the hairs on the back of her neck up to attention.

"Are we still..." She pauses as his fingers start to trace slow, featherlight circles across her lower back, and she swallows hard before she can continue. "Talking about economics?"

"I really have no fucking idea." He groans as she opens her mouth slightly, her teeth grazing his skin.

"I want to..." Logically she knows everyone is in bed, highly unlikely to reappear outside tonight, and if this was their place she'd be happy for this to continue, but her brain can't quite shut out her surroundings enough to relax into what she wants.

"You want to go upstairs." His hands move from her back to cup her face and he kisses her, knowing her well enough to sense her reticence, and smiling at her as he pulls back.

"I want you," she says simply, returning his smile. "Without the constant worry that someone could walk in on us at any second...I'm sorry."

"Mackenzie..." His nose rubs against hers and she feels his breath warm on her skin, tickling slightly. "No sentence that starts with you saying 'I want you' should ever end in 'I'm sorry'."

"Okay." She smiles and climbs carefully out of his lap, grinning at the noticeable bulge in his shorts as she holds out her hand to him. "When we get our own place out here, we can do it outside every night."

"Don't think I won't remember you said that." He takes her hand and gets to his feet, his eyes sweeping the length of her body before he lets her lead him towards the door.

"Oh, don't you worry," she says, squeezing his hand as they step into the kitchen. "I'm counting on it."


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _It's a nice dream, his hand in her hair, his fingers softly stroking across her forehead. She's warm and comfortable and she can't bear the thought of waking up to an empty bed, of having to drag herself into the kitchen for her perfunctory breakfast before work._

It's a nice dream, his hand in her hair, his fingers softly stroking across her forehead. She's warm and comfortable and she can't bear the thought of waking up to an empty bed, of having to drag herself into the kitchen for her perfunctory breakfast before work. She sighs and scrunches her eyes more tightly shut and that's when she hears it, a low huff of laughter in Will's unmistakeable tone, reminding her as she struggles from sleep that she isn't alone, she doesn't have to go to work today, and he's here beside her. When she drags her eyes slowly open to meet his, he’s looking at her like she’s the most exquisite thing he’s ever seen and she feels a warmth run through her as she smiles lazily.

"Mmm, thought I was dreaming." She sighs, her words barely a murmur as she fixes her gaze on him. "You're thinking, aren't you? I can tell. What are you thinking about?"

"Your dad, actually," he says, his voice sleepy but his eyes completely alert.

"Okay...so _that_ wasn't the answer I was expecting." She reaches for him, her hand resting on his arm as his hand sits at her waist, his thumb gently stroking her skin. "But go ahead, I'm intrigued now."

"Your parents are pretty traditional, right?" he asks, blinking slowly, his eyes looking extra blue in the crack of early sunlight bursting through the blinds.

"In some ways, I suppose, yeah." She nods, pausing as she thinks about them for a moment, anticipating their reactions to what she has to tell them after this weekend. "They're not immovable though. Why?"

"I woke up early," he says with a smile. "And I was watching you sleep-"

"Wondering how long it would be before I started drooling?" She cuts in, returning his smile.

"You're beautiful when you're sleeping, Mackenzie." His hand moves higher and she giggles faintly when his fingers tickle her ribcage.

"Wow, it really _must_ be love," she says, covering her hand with his, stilling his fingers against her stomach. "Because I'm pretty sure that's total crap."

"It's not, but yeah, I do." He narrows his eyes at her as he goes on. "Do you want to hear what I was thinking about or not?"

"Sure." She grins at him and watches a smirk pulling at his lips. "Feel free to get to it."

"I was thinking..." He pauses, looking unsure, and she nods at him to continue. "Well, should I have asked your dad, you know, before I asked you to marry me? Is that, like, a thing?"

"Oh God, Billy, you really are the sweetest." She feels emotional suddenly, lying here with him, seeing him as his viewers never will, the side of him that she's missed so much for the last four years. "But I promise you, my dad wouldn't expect that for a second, not at all. He adores you, you know that, they both do, and they'll be ecstatic, you don't need to worry about that."

"Okay, good," he says, relief written all over his face as he smiles at her. "I wasn't worried, I was just...I want to do this properly, so I thought I should ask."

"Not even a little bit worried?" She smiles at him and he returns it, not answering her question.

She leans forward and kisses him, feeling him slide his hands into her hair to push it out of her face. It's a slow, deep, lazy kiss in the way only early morning kisses can be, and when she pulls back he has a section of her hair wrapped around his finger, twirling it slowly, stopping only when she frowns at him.

"Your hair..." He stops, watches her for a second, then goes on. "It used to be much longer."

"I know, I..." She thinks about her hair when Charlie came to offer her the job. It hadn't been cut since she was embedded, had barely been washed since she had arrived home, yet when she knew she was going to be seeing Will again it suddenly became vital for her to do something with it, something to show him she wasn't quite the same woman he had walked away from three years earlier. "I decided to cut it before I came to New York. Fresh start and all, I suppose."

"I like it," he says quietly. "That's not why I was...it was just an observation, I guess."

She smiles and moves back onto the pillow, pulling him with her, her hands on the back of his neck dragging his face to hers so she can kiss him, nipping lightly on his bottom lip. He seems to hover over her for a few seconds, hesitant as she remembers him being so often whenever she pulled him into this position. He is much heavier than her, much bigger, but he's also the most gentle man she's ever known, and she loves his weight on her, his body pressed against hers, moving over her. It's what she wants this morning, what she needs, to feel him pushing her down hard into the pillow, to wrap her legs around him as he moves deeper into her, to feel his breath in her ear as she tries to remember to bite back her cries.

He scrapes his teeth down the side of her neck and she slides her fingers into his hair, moaning as she parts her legs and he settles between them, propped up on his forearm as he sucks gently on her shoulder. His hand brushes across her nipple and she feels a warm ache between her legs, a fluttering low in her stomach. When she feels him hard against her thigh, she reaches down and takes him in her hand, his groan muted slightly against her skin. He runs his fingers down her side, trailing them across her stomach and down lower.

She feels him smile against her collarbone when she lifts her legs and wraps her feet around him, her heels pushing into his thighs, her toes tensing as he slips a finger slowly inside her. Biting her lip, the noise she wants to make is reduced to a low moan as she tilts her hips to let him know she's more than ready. He slowly adds a second finger, curling both at a perfect angle, stroking harder and lifting his head to kiss her just as she thinks she might not be able to hold back her cries any longer. When his fingers pull out of her, she feels a flush spreading across her chest as he reaches down to guide himself inside, his tongue sliding against hers as her legs move higher and he pushes even deeper.

Her nails run down his neck and she feels his groan more than she hears it, his mouth still on hers. His hand roams slowly down her thigh and she crosses her feet tighter behind him, urging him further inside her, her loud moan echoing around the quiet room when his lips move to her earlobe. He pauses for a second and she squeezes his bicep, clutching the solid muscle and waiting for him to start moving over her, sighing as she feels his skin sliding against hers, the early morning warm enough already to have coated them both with a light sheen of sweat.

"Oh God." She moans as the bed starts up its squeak, watching as he somehow manages a smirk even as he pushes harder inside her.

"Do you really think..." His smirk falters as she arches slightly under him and throws her head back. "They don't know what we've been doing in here?"

"No, I'm sure they do, but still..." He starts to suck lightly on her neck, slips a hand down between them, and she forgets the purpose of her protest.

She feels his fingers exactly where she wants them, rubbing in small circles as his head lifts from her neck and his eyes lock onto hers, their customary light blue darkened as his breaths become heavier. His other hand is planted firmly beside her on their bed and she strokes his arm softly, biting her lip as his fingers pick up speed. Her hand curls around his wrist and squeezes, holding on tighter as she feels herself arching under his touch, hears herself murmuring his name, growing louder as she comes hard against his fingers.

Sliding her arms under his and up onto his back, she feels his muscles under her fingers and she pulls him down to her, wanting to feel his weight on her. Sensing what she wants, he pushes his face into the side of her neck, his forearms on either side of her head as he drives deeper and harder into her. His mouth opens against her skin and she feels his tongue, his lips, his breath warm and laboured as she hears the sound she knows he makes only when he's close. Shifting her foot, she runs her heel slowly down his calf and curls her fingers around his shoulder blades as she lets out a long, low moan into his ear. It's enough to tip him over the edge and he stills for a second, his hips pushed hard into hers, then he comes with her name falling from his lips, as an I love you tumbles from hers.

*

He's zipping his bag shut when she bursts through the door and she sees him jump, knocking his comb onto the floor.

"Jesus, Mac, give a guy some warning, would you?" He bends to pick up the comb, sliding it into the bag and closing it.

"Sorry," she says, shrugging as she goes on. "Do you have jeans in that bag? Or something other than shorts at least?"

"Um..." He steps away from the bed and makes a sweeping gesture down his legs, where she can see that he's already wearing jeans. "Unless I've totally lost my mind, I'm pretty sure I'm wearing jeans. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong."

"Nope, you're wearing jeans." She grins, her eyes roaming the length of his body, over the blue t- shirt he's wearing and down to his jeans. Holding up a finger, she twirls it in the air, her grin growing wider as he turns around, baffled. "And you're wearing them _really_ well..."

"Am I being..." He turns back to her, eyebrows raised, a faint smirk on his face. "Objectified?" 

"Oh God yeah, completely." She nods at him. "I'm one step away from groping."

"Well, don't let one tiny step put you off." He lowers his voice and she smiles but then remembers why she came to find him.

"We have to stop by my place on the way to work," she says, making a similar gesture to his in the direction of the shorts she's wearing, watching him swallow hard as his gaze runs slowly down her legs. "I don't have anything other than shorts or a dress that really isn't any longer than my shorts."

"And?" He tilts his head, apparently oblivious to why this might be a problem.

"I can't go to work in shorts, Will." She sighs, shaking her head. "We can run right in and I can throw on a skirt and run right back out again. Ten minute detour, that's all."

"Alright." He shrugs and takes a step towards her, running his hand over her hip and down to the hem of her shorts, tugging gently on them. "I really don't see why you can't go to work in these. It'd sure as shit make the afternoon rundown more enjoyable."

"As solid as your fashionista credentials are..." She pauses, grinning as his fingers brush her thigh. "I'm going to have to overrule you on this one."

"Fine, but don't blame me if the meeting goes off the rails and I don't have your legs to get me back on track," he says, catching hold of her hand as she steps away.

"My legs will still be there," she says, watching as his eyes once again dart lower. "They just won't be on parade for the entire newsroom."

"Will they be on parade for me after the show?" He laces his fingers through hers and she smiles.

"I guess that depends on how good a show it is." She moves to the door, pulling him along with her. She needs to finish drying her hair and if it means he's coming with her simply by refusing to let go of her hand then so be it.

*

She has just finished her third pancake and is working her way through her second cup of coffee when Ned climbs onto his knees in the chair next to her, and reaches out to rest his hand on her shoulder.

"Hi." She smiles at him and pushes her mug out of his reach. "You okay?"

"Yep." He nods, grinning at her and shuffling to the edge of his chair. "Do you have to go home today?"

"We do, sweetie," she says, smiling again, this time at the pout on his face, aware too of the smirk on Will's.

"But why?" he asks with a frown, leaning closer and climbing onto her lap, his little hands grasping her shoulders.

"Well..." She pauses, bringing her arms around him, resting her hands on his back to keep him from sliding off her lap. "Your grandpa was smart and took the day off today so he could hang out with you and Beau a little bit more, but Will and I have to get back to work."

"Next time when you come back here, we can build an even bigger sandcastle, okay?" His face is serious and she nods, smiling at him as nods back before clambering back into his own chair to carry on eating his pancakes.

Looking across the table, she sees Will watching Ned, his expression inscrutable, his eyes soft, a little distant. She knows they have a lot to talk about, not least about how being around Ned has reignited her desire for a family with Will, reminding her of how badly she wanted it first time around and still does. It has also served to remind her that it's so unlikely now that it's probably easier to try and forget it was ever something she wanted, something they wanted. He seems to feel her eyes on him and he looks up at her, giving her a smile that she manages to return before looking away and reaching for her coffee.

"Jury's still out in the Casey Anthony trial." Charlie's voice breaks into her thoughts and she nods at him, avoiding looking back at Will, knowing it's still a prickly subject between them, even if it is one they decided to agree to disagree on.

"Did you tell Jim to keep an eye on things there this morning?" Will speaks up and she glares at him, instantly irritated.

"I told him he should probably get right down there so he can shove a microphone in someone's face for an on the spot reaction the very second the verdict is announced," she says as he glares back, putting them into a brief stand-off until she sighs and goes on. "He's not an idiot, Will, he knows what he's doing."

"Yeah, well, just checking." He shrugs and she shakes her head, looking away again.

She realises that Jim is part of yet another subject she and Will should cover, he needs to know that he isn't just some inexperienced kid she dragged to New York to try to impress. He should be aware that Jim was dragged into every awful situation she was, and that he came back just as damaged as she did. She may have been on the receiving end of the knife, but he was the one who dragged her out of the crowd, her blood soaking through his t-shirt, and he was the one who had to call her parents to tell them they needed to get on a flight, and fast.

"He _knows_ what he's doing." She repeats herself, her tone firm enough that she sees Nancy's raised eyebrows and Charlie's frown which he aims straight at Will.

"There's no guarantee they'll even return a verdict today," Charlie says, standing up from the table and looking at both of them. "More coffee?"

"Mmm, yes please." She nods as she slides her foot out of her shoe further under and runs it up Will's shin, waiting for him to look up at her and smiling slightly at him when he does.

"We're going to run it though, right?" he asks, reaching under the table and catching her foot on his knee, squeezing lightly, his thumb running across her toes. "The verdict?"

"D block," she answers, not pausing for a second, even as his fingers tickle her foot. "C, at a push, depending what else we have today."

"Alright," he says, and she's surprised he doesn't try to argue with her, half wondering if he might save his argument until they know the verdict, which actually makes sense, not that she will admit it.

"Okay then." She pulls her foot back and smirks at the disappointed look that crosses his face replaced by a smile as Charlie reappears with the rest of the coffee.

"So, Labor Day..." Charlie pours coffee for them all as he talks, ruffling Ned's hair when he's finished, laughing as his grandson instantly reaches up to straighten it back into place. "I don't want to freak you out, but I think we probably need to move pretty quickly if we're going to be needing hotel rooms. How soon do you think you can start figuring out who's coming?"

"Oh God," she says, letting out a long breath. "I haven't even told anyone we're back together, let alone-"

"You told Jim." Will stops her, shrugging as though he thinks that having told one person is good enough.

"What I meant is I haven't called my parents yet, or my sisters, or..." She stops, thinking about which order to do things, probably Harriet first since she's the one who will start calling if she doesn't hear from her.

"Hey." Charlie smiles at her. "Like I said, I don't want to freak you out..."

"Yeah, sorry." She smiles sheepishly and looks up at Will who is basically just grinning at her across the table. She could invite half of England and everyone in the tri-state area and she thinks he'd just shrug and say 'if that's what you want, honey.'

"All I'm saying is you should probably try and figure it out pretty soon, okay?" Charlie says, and she nods back at him.

"I'll call a couple of places anyway," Nancy says with a smile. "See about reserving some rooms and confirming later."

"My wife, the genius." Charlie says, grinning.

"The car's going to be here soon, we should grab our things," Will says, taking a final gulp from his mug and smiling at her.

*

"I know we'll see you soon," she says to Beau, who's smiling shyly at her. "But you can still call or email, if you're doing any more thinking about schools or whatever. Okay?"

"Sure, thanks Mac." He turns to Will and grins. "And you can call me, you know, if you need any more advice."

She laughs as Will grins back, shaking his head at Beau's words but unable to deny that what he said got him thinking and pushed him at least a little further on the path towards her. Charlie steps forward and hugs her, followed by Nancy, and she takes a few seconds to let everything sink in, to process that a weekend at the beach turned into so much more. As she stands beside Will, watching him thank Nancy and clap Charlie heartily on the back, she feels a hand tugging on hers and looks down to see Ned grinning up at her. Letting go of her hand, he holds both arms up in a gesture she knows means he'd like her to pick him up, so she drops her bag and obliges. His arms slide around her neck and she closes her eyes briefly as he hugs her, his small hands warm against her skin and his feet resting softly on her hips.

"You're coming back real soon, right?" he asks, leaning back slightly to look at her. 

"Yes," she says with a smile. "So soon you'll barely even notice we were gone."

"Okay then." His serious expression turns into a smile and he glances at Will. "Promise?"

"Promise, buddy," he says, holding out his hand, grinning at Ned's giggle as he shakes it solemnly.

Setting him back down, she runs her hand gently through his hair before he steps away, wrapping himself around Nancy's leg as she smiles down at him.

"Told you he was going to end up your biggest fan." Charlie squeezes her shoulder and tilts his head in Ned's direction, grinning.

"It's pretty mutual," she says quietly. "He really is incredibly sweet, Charlie."

"Ready?" Will hands their bags to the driver who puts them in the trunk and then opens the back door, waiting as she gets into the car first before sliding in next to her and opening the window.

"See you both tomorrow." Charlie says, tapping lightly on the roof and grinning as the window rolls up, before stepping back to where Nancy and the boys are standing.

They sit in comfortable silence as the car pulls away from the house and onto the road, and she eventually reaches into her bag for her phone. She's sure had anything major happened someone would have called, but she wants to check anyway.

"Are you fishing in there for snacks, by any chance?" Will asks, smirking at her and rolling his eyes as she holds up her phone.

"We literally _just_ ate breakfast," she says in disbelief. "You can't possibly want BBQ Fritos now."

"Pretty sure you're the one who insisted on the way up here than snacks for the road are pretty much the law," he says, pointing at her bag. "You're sure there's not a hidden bag of chips in there."

"Certain of it." She smiles at him, pausing to check her emails quickly, before looking up at him. "Besides, I have a vested interest now in not letting you eat crap. I care if you die."

"You didn’t care before?” He's amused but pretending not to be, it's a tone she's familiar with. "Well…" She purses her lips in mock thought. "Less so.”

"Is this my life now?" He shifts closer on the seat and she slides her hand onto his thigh, enjoying that she can just do this now, that touching him is completely alright again. "Am I looking at a life of yoghurt and granola?"

"Is it not a price worth paying for a long and healthy life with the woman of your dreams?" She squeezes his leg and he smiles.

"Seems like a fair deal when you put it that way," he says, shrugging. "So, no snacks?"

"No snacks." She shakes her head and leans in to kiss him, not caring about the driver up front and what he might think.

He covers her hand with his and reaches into his pocket, pulling out his phone, earphones attached, saying nothing when she raises an eyebrow, just scrolling through his music until he finds what he was obviously looking for. Handing her one earphone and putting the other into his ear, waiting as she does the same, before turning the music on, his eyes fixed on her. She smiles in anticipation, feeling sure she knows what she's about to hear, and she turns her hand to tangle her fingers with his as it starts to play.

_Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter..._


End file.
